Actions Speak Louder: Part One  Growing Kunoichi
by Oroshi-No-Mercy
Summary: He loved himself and no other.  He fought for himself and no other.  She loved him and no other.  She fought for everyone in the end with him in mind.  GaaraxOC     As read on  with changes
1. Chapter 1

"Get the ball!"

"I got it!"

"Kick it over to me!"

Laughter echoed through the empty playground. Well, two children were playing with a ball during the cooler hours of the day. It was a daily routine that one of the children was used to while the other looked forward to that time of the day. One was a girl, full of life and thought of the world as a wonderous adventure. The other was a boy, shunned from his village and most of his family. They had been friends for the several years the boy had been born, the girl was three years older than him. She was training as one of the youngest Genin in Suna and teaching the young boy how to control his chakra.

After their little game, she went over to the boy out of breath, "That was fun, Gaara."

"Thanks," Gaara smiled shyly as he watched Ura sip her tea, "Ura, why do you train so much?"

Ura looked over at him with her childlike innocence with a smile. She reached over and touched his arm without the sand blocking her that time, "So one day, you and I can fight. You're super strong, Gaara, and I want to be as strong as you."

Gaara seemed surprised by her answer and shyed away again, using his sand to remove her hand from his skin, "Do...do you want to be like the others?"

"No!" Ura stated quickly as she dropped her tea in the sand, "I want to be like you."

He turned his head towards her, his eyes slowly widening as a smile formed on his lips. Ura was relieved to see that he had finally understood what she had meant. Though Ura could see her parents were worried about her being with Gaara, she didn't want to leave him alone. So many of the other villagers left him to suffer in silence, but Gaara was so much more than the monster they create him as. She could see his potential and his strength. Gaara was very powerful and she could see that if he didn't control his chakra or strength...it could be the death of many people.

Ura came out of her thoughts when Gaara tugged on her wrist, "Come home with me, Yashamaru is making my favorite tonight."

"Sure," Ura smiled and followed him home.

Her parents watched from their window in fear. Though her father was angry and worried about his daughter, her mother held a similar smile as she watched her daughter leave. He cursed beneath his breath and went to drink his beer, "Damn that girl of ours... Has she no idea the danger she's in! I'm going after her."

"No you won't, Gokui," the woman crossed her arms over her pregnant belly, "Ura is quite capable of keeping herself alive at this point. She is at the safest point in all the village."

"And what if he gets mad at her!" he stomped over to her, whispering sharply in her ear, "What if he sees her as an enemy by mistake! Ura will be crushed to tiny pieces."

The woman eyed her husband then smiled even wider, "At this point, Ura is the only friend Gaara will ever have that knows him inside and out. Our Ura will be the best kunoichi of Suna with Gaara in the palm of her hand. She will be the next Kazekage."

"Shows how much you know, woman," he chugged his beer, then threw it at the window where they watched their daughter, "I have other plans for her."

She widened her eyes, stumbling over her swollen feet over to her husband, "I told you no! She is not leaving us!"

"I'm saving her life," her husband stated angrily as he left the house to go to the Kazekage's mansion.

Ura sat in Yashamaru's kitchen as Gaara ate the dinner his uncle prepared for him. She ate some of her food, but was thinking about her training that evening. If she ate too much, then she may get sick. Instead, Ura poked at her food some more, ate a little and claimed she was too full to eat anymore. Yashamaru simply smiled and thanked her for joining them for dinner. When Ura was about to leave, Gaara stopped her with sand wrapped around her wrist, "Don't leave..."

"Sure, ok," Ura nodded and continued to sit next to Gaara.

"Gaara, she has to go home to her family," Yashamaru chided softly as he started to do the dishes.

"Then...can I walk you home?" Gaara asked as he looked over at Ura.

"That would be cool," Ura nodded with a playful smile.

After dinner, Gaara and Ura walked together as the full moon began to rise. They were too engrossed in their conversation to notice a drunken man approaching them. Gaara looked at the ground as the man sneered at him, "You ssshould be locked...in a damn cage..."

"Shut up!" Ura demanded as she stood in front of Gaara, "Don't talk to him like that!"

"Get out of the way, girlie!" the man raised his hand to slap her, then clumsily stepped back.

Ura's rage was growing as she pulled out her kunai, "Do not...think i'm weak..."

"Ura..." Gaara grumbled.

She turned to see that Gaara was getting just as mad as her. If he harmed the man, then Gaara would get in serious trouble. Ura couldn't let Gaara set himself up like that, not when she was trying to help him. She lunged at the man with her kunai, "Get out of here! Go back your bar!"

"Damn kid," he raised his bottle to hit her with, "Just shut the hell up!"

Ura threw her kunai at the bottle and smashed it into pieces. The man stumbled back as he realized that Ura wasn't joking when she said to leave. He quickly turned and ran off, leaving the two kids alone. Ura turned to Gaara to see tears coming down his face. She wanted to cry too, but it just wouldn't come. These moments came frequently anymore since his dad saw him as a monster too. Ura bent down a little to get face-to-face to Gaara, "It's ok now, Gaara, we're safe."

She was startled when he hugged her neck gently, feeling his hot tears on her shoulder. Ura held him as well, too happy for words to know that he trusted her so much. There was no better feeling than knowing Gaara was safe. Due to her worry in Gaara's safety, she wouldn't let him walk home alone. Instead, they sat on Ura's roof and looked up at the stars.

Gaara then asked her in a whisper, "What do you want to be when you grow up?"

Ura thought about her answer for a few moments. It was clear she wanted to be something big one day. She then answered in the same whisper, "I want to be the Kazekage of Suna."

They both didn't say anything for awhile. Ura was growing tired, but again, she didn't want to leave Gaara alone for his safety. Gaara noticed how tired Ura was getting suggested that she should sleep. Ura waved his suggestion off and asked if he would watch her train that night. He happily obliged and went out towards the dessert.

"I will inform the Hokage of her arrival then."

"Thank you, i'm sure you understand why I'm sending her off."

"Of course, for her own safety."

Ura had finally collapsed around midnight in the sand from being so exhausted. Gaara sat next to her sleeping body as he looked up at the moon. He was tired too, but he didn't want the beast inside of him to take control. It was too risky, or that was what everyone else said. Gaara looked over at Ura. She was the only one in the entire village that actually hung out with him and played with him. He had spied on her a few times to see if someone was making her or paying her. Each time he had only gave him more happiness, Ura came freely. No one forced her.

"Gaara..."

He turned over to Ura and saw that she was just talking in her sleep. Gaara appreciated Ura as his closest friend, the only one close enough to him that he felt safe. Yashamaru was different, he was family. He loved Gaara. Gaara smiled to himself as he lain next to Ura, reaching out and took her hand softly in his hand. She would never leave his side.

The next day, Ura woke slowly and saw Gaara's friendly gaze on her as he lain next to her. She smiled softly and saw that he was holding her hand. Ura stretched her legs as she slowly sat up, "Good morning, Gaara, you ready for breakfast?"

"Yes!" Gaara answered quickly as he stood up, "Are you going to make breakfast again?"

"Do you want me to?" Ura asked as she also stood up.

If her dad wasn't home again, then she would make breakfast for Gaara. But, if he was, she'll just suggest that she has been craving some restaurant food. Ura led the way with Gaara still holding her hand. She was the luckiest person in the world. Gaara trusted her and tried to be by her side whenever he could. There was no other place than she would rather be than by his side. Ura glanced at Gaara, his cute looks were a plus too. Gaara noticed her looking at him and smiled, holding her hand a little tighter. Maybe one day they would fighting on the same team, and he would be her partner when she became the Kazekage.

When they arrived in the village, her father was waiting with his arms crossed. Gaara stood behind Ura as she approached her father, "Yes, Dad?"

"Pack your things, your dreams have come true. You're heading to the Village Hidden in the Leaves," he smiled, seeing Gaara's scared reaction.

"What! That's not fair!" Ura yelled as she balled up her fists, "I can't leave!"

"You're leaving tonight," he walked away.

Ura didn't know what to say, all her dreams were being sent away from her. If she went to the Leaf, she wouldn't be able to come back as the Kazekage. She turned to talk to Gaara, but he just stared at her in disbelief. There was no way she could leave Gaara alone. No. There had to be a way to remain with him. Ura went to hug Gaara, but he sent her a few feet back by pushing her away with his sand. She called out to him and tried to have him listen to her. It wasn't working. Gaara slowly walked back into the village as tears streamed down his face. Ura wasn't giving up, there was no way she was leaving with Gaara feeling like that. She got up and ran over to Gaara, "I don't want to leave you!"

"Yes you do!" Gaara screamed at her as his eyes hardened, the sand morphing around him, "That's what your dad said! It was a dream come true!"

"Gaara, listen to me!" Ura shouted, she wouldn't let him leave her alone, "I don't want-"

"Stop it! Stop lying!" Gaara sent his sand at her.

His sand wrapped around her arms, squeezing tightly as he could. Ura screamed in pain, the feeling that her arms becoming crushed was too much for her fragile body. Gaara released her then walked away as tears dripped down his cheeks. Ura felt the same hot tears on her own cheeks, why did this have to happen? Why did she had have to leave? Gaara would never forgive her...

Ura stood up and examined her arms. She was surprised to see Gaara hadn't broken her bones, but her skin was scarred. Bruised and scarred, Ura looked around. There was no worse feeling than knowing she was all alone in the world. She went back to her home as the tears continued to fall. When she entered, her mother had placed a plate of breakfast on the small table for her daughter. Her mother could easily see that Ura heard the news and so did Gaara. Ura's mother was not the motherly type, she did not coo over her child like other mothers did. In fact, she was the one who made Ura become a kunoichi to make herself stronger.

"Gaara was not pleased, was he?" her mother asked softly.

Her daughter couldn't answer from choking on the image of Gaara's saddness. Ura couldn't eat her breakfast from the saddnesss that enveloped her. Watching her daughter like that...well, it even made her mother want to comfort Ura. It didn't matter though, what was done was done. Her mother touched her swollen belly and glanced at Ura, Suna was no match for them. She went over to Ura and pulled her away from the table, leading her down to the private study that her mother forbade from anyone entering.

She pulled her daughter inside and locked it, then opened the closet door inside the room. Ura watched in curiosity as she saw her mother had so many scrolls hidden in that one closet. Her mother brought out a large scroll and handed it to Ura, "While you're over in Leaf, you will train the hardest, do you understand? You may be in Leaf, but you are a Suna kunoichi. Your heart remains here and you will fight soley for here. In this scroll is a kekkai-genkai even your father doesn't know about. I want you to be the best with this kekkai-genkai, do you understand?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"You will be under the command of a shinobi named Kakashi Hatake. When you arrive under his care, you will tell him that you will come back to your home when you become a Chunin. Do you understand?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Good girl," her mother stood up and held her belly, "Now pack your things, Ura. I want to talk to you about one more thing before you leave."

Ura nodded and obeyed her mother's task. She packed her clothes and her ninja gear, then met her mother in the living room. For the 8 years she had been a girl, Ura knew her mother had always wanted to be a kunoichi of Suna. Her mother was head strong and had settled with a man that knocked her up with Ura years ago. It was a mistake, of course, but Ura had her mother's love even if it were shown in a different way. Her mother walked over to her and placed a hand on her hand, "Tell me, Ura, what is your Nindo?"

"Uhm... To be by Gaara?" Ura looked up at her mother.

"No, your nindo is to fight for those who cannot and lead the world to a new time," her mother stated as she pulled her hand from Ura's head.

"Yes, ma'am," Ura nodded as she went over that same nindo in her head.

Her mother went back to fixing a meal for her husband when he arrived later on. Ura felt her eyes sting from the same tears as she glared at the door. Why did she have to leave?

"Fight hard, Ura," her mother said softly, "No one is going to go easy on you over there. There will not be anyone who will love you other there like they will here. Come back when you are a Chunin so you can be the Kazekage."

"Yes...ma'am," Ura hesitated as she felt her anger began to rise, "Mom...why are you sending me to...Leaf?"

Her mother turned with her deep brown eyes narrowed, "I'm not sending you anywhere, your father is."

They didn't speak another word to each other. Instead, Ura left the house with her pack on her back. She had to find Gaara one last time, there was just too much she wanted to say before she had to leave. Ura leaped from roof to roof, hoping to find a trace of Gaara somewhere. When she reached Yashamaru's small home, Ura knocked on the door. When he opened the door, his eyes dimmed when he saw that it was Ura. She asked where Gaara was, and he merely shrugged and said he didn't know. With that answer, Ura ran through the town in hopes of finding Gaara.

By noon, she still couldn't find him. Ura found some sanctuary from the heat in the shadow behind the Kazekage's mansion. She pulled out some stationary and began to write a small letter to Gaara. Promises. They were all she had of when she would return to Suna. Her tears reached the paper as she folded it when she was finished. There was so much more she had wanted to say, but it was no use. Unless she could talk to Gaara herself, there was no way he would ever know her true feelings. Friendship, yes, but she saw Gaara in a different light. Though she couldn't quite put a word on it, she saw him as her own life. If he was hurt, so was she. If he was happy, then so was she. Gaara brightened her day and gave her peace at mind when she knew he was safe at night. Seeing him hurt like earlier made Ura feel so hurt herself that she had wanted to kill herself on the inside just to end the pain.

"Hey, Ura."

She looked up to see Temari and Kankurou looking own at her. Ura stood up and waved up at them, having them leap from their window to her. They had heard of her leaving and questioned her. She didn't say anything, but handed them the letter she wanted Gaara to have. Tears welled in her eyes again, but she lowered her head so they couldn't see. Temari took the letter and reassured Ura that they would find Gaara and have him read the letter.

"You are coming back, right?" Kankurou asked as he looked away for a moment.

"Yeah... When i'm a Chunin," Ura answered, "It may not be too long. I'm a Genin now, so..."

"Right!" Temari tried to be positive, "You'll be back here in no time."

"Yeah..." answered Ura, then she said her goodbyes to her two other friends and left.

Gaara was no where to be found for Ura. It was as if he was evading her on purpose. It wasn't fair. Why was Gaara mad at her when she didn't even want to go? Ura didn't want to wait anymore. She didn't want to remain in the Sunagakure if Gaara wasn't saying goodbye to her too. As she walked to the gates, she took one last look at Suna as tears dripped from her eyes. Somewhere, Gaara was in the village feeling sad too. Ura turned towards the village and shouted, "Just you wait, Gaara, I will be back and i'll find you!"

Pausing, Ura felt some relief. Maybe Gaara had heard her, maybe not. But, she wasn't going to wait for him that day. Ura would miss Gaara's friendship dearly. He had been so close to her and vice versa. She turned and exited the village on her own. One day, she would find Gaara and tell him how she felt all those years of friendship. To her, he was not a monster. He was not a menace. He was human with imperfections, but he was hers. Ura touched her heart where she felt the greatest saddness, soon...soon she would return. She would be back and let Gaara know that even when she left, she didn't stop thinking about him. No matter how mad he was at her, she would fight for him, she would protect him, and give him what no one has ever given him.

It took her about the rest of the day and night to reach the Konohagakure. She was too tired for words, starving for food, and so thirsty that she didn't have any spit to swallow. Ura reached the front gates to find a man with gray hair, reading a book with some weird pictures on the front. He looked over at her as she approached the village, "What's your name, child?"

"Ura," she panted as she wiped the sweat off of her brow, "of the Sand."

"Not anymore," he smiled as he handed her a new handband with the Leaf symbol, "of the Leaf now."

"Keep it," Ura panted more as she clung to her own head band, "I...am from...the Land of the Wind... When...when I'm Chunin, i'm going home."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N - I am still quite new to this site and I reread what I previously posted. There is some slight confusion when I bring up the three dialogue when Gaara and Ura head out to the desert. If there's any confusion, my apologies, I thought the symbols I put up would've shown up. Just to say it real quick, it was the Kazekage and Ura's dad, Gokui.**

Years had passed until Ura became the age of 15. She was still a Genin under the intense training with Kakashi. Throughout her years of training in the Leaf, she had never took off her Suna headband. Others questioned her for this act, but Ura didn't care. The one thing Kakashi questioned her on was the scroll she brought with her that had a forbidden kekkai-genkai. Ura dismissed the topic several times with him and continued to train on her own with the scroll. Her mother gave her that scroll for a reason and she wouldn't let anyone tell her otherwise. There were days where Ura would sit and remember her old friend in Suna, where he was and how he was doing. Then, there were days where she was so angry that she had left Suna that she would train for a full two days just to get the anger out of her. Why did she have to leave? Why was her father so adament that she left? Questions haunted her many nights, but she had come to an understanding resently.

She had started meditating more and more to calm herself instead. Answers came in the form of signs to her anymore. The reason her father made her leave came in a dream where she was in the middle of a dessert. Nothing was around her and she was all on her own. She had seen her pregnant mother walk away from Ura, tossing a kunai in the air in which Ura had caught with ease. There was a sandstorm around her, but it never touched her because it was so far away. When she woke, Ura had went to a mystic and asked what the dream had meant. The answer she had told Ura made her realize why she was in Konoha. Her father was afraid for Ura's safety, but Ura was in more danger leaving than she was in the village. But it was too late, Ura was there and couldn't leave just yet.

Ura had written to Temari and Kankurou many times and wrote at least once a week to them. They wrote her back, telling her about their lives, but they always left Gaara out. When Ura would ask questions about the letter she wrote Gaara, they wouldn't answer that question. Ura didn't know if Gaara still wanted to be friends. Then again, she had written letters to him still without him ever returning them. In one letter, one that she recieved recently, she was given a picture by Temari of the three of them. Gaara was so grown, but...he wasn't the same. The look in his eyes made Ura want to vomit from how sad she was. What had happened without her there? Ura would never know...

The Chunin exams were approaching, but Kakashi and his new team of Genins were out on a mission. Ura had already completed B-rank missions and just waited for them to show up. She wandered through the village and found the usual stream she sat at to meditate. Through her time in Leaf, she made few friends. They didn't interest her when she knew she was just going to leave them eventually.

"Ura of the Sand."

She turned softly to see some of the tracker-nin in Leaf before her. Ura looked them up and down, "Yes?"

"The Hokage wishes to see you."

"Alright," Ura shrugged and disappeared in a cloud of smoke and appeared in front of the Hokage, "You wanted to see me?"

"Yes, regarding your participation in the Chunin Exams," he smoked his pipe slowly, "You are still not on a three-man squad."

"I don't intend to, you know my affiliation is with Suna," Ura held her head band that was sewn onto her chest.

"Well, the rules state clearly that you must be on a team with two other Genin," Sarutobi explained as he eyed her, "If you do not participate this year, you may not ever be a Chunin."

"Then I want permission to do the exams on my own," Ura stated as she put her hands behind her back, "I'm strong enough to even take you on, Lord Hokage."

Sarutobi chuckled as he stood up, "I can see that you are strong, but you still have a long way to go. If I allow you to go on in the Chunin Exams, I hope you understand that no one will go easy on you for your choice to participate alone."

"I understand clearly," Ura smiled as she put her hands on her hips, "I'm going to win in the end, and then I can go back home to Suna."

The Hokage looked over Ura a few more times. Watching her over the years made him believe that she was definitely Kage material. One problem he knew would never go away was that she held back most of her power. Why she held back he wouldn't understand. Sarutobi watched her leave his office and the mansion, walking through the village in the direction of the usual training ground. Smoking his pipe, Sarutobi hoped she would change her mind and remain in Konoha. He had asked her several times to be his apprentice in hopes of becoming the next Hokage, but each time she turned him down. Konoha wasn't good enough to be the village Ura wanted to represent and protect.

The Sunagakure was a lucky country, Sarutobi thought as he sat back in his chair.

Ura walked through the village with her arms behind her head. It was a beautiful day, a great day for training too. She wanted a break though. Usually, she trained for a week and took a day off so her body could get used to the strain she put on herself. All the training was paying off though, Ura placed her hands on her slender hips with a proud smile on her lips. She was one of the strongest kunoichi in the Leaf Village and was ready for the Chunin Exams so she could finally go home. It would be nice to kick her dad's ass for sending her there anyways.

She sat back at the original stream and brought a cantine that she took from Kakashi. It had some sake in it, but not enough that would get her wasted. Ura sat on the ground and just gazed at the stream. It was definitely a nice day.

"H-h-hello, Ura-san..."

Ura looked over her shoulder to see Hinata Hyuuga. Over the years, she had been trying to get the Hyuuga girl to open up. No use being shy when one was a kunoichi, especially from a legendary family. With a smile, Ura waved to Hinata, "Hey, where've you been?"

"Uhm...training, with Kurenai-sensei," Hinata answered as she stood besides Ura, "Where...is your team?"

"Who? Oh the three with Kakashi? They're on a mission," Ura shrugged as she sipped the cantine, "I didn't want to go."

"Why not?"

"It's bad enough i'm here, why go to a different country and suffer there?"

They sat in silence. Hinata and Ura had met when Ura arrived and lived with Kakashi. The Hyuuga girl was so weak that Ura had to question herself to why she wanted to be a kunoichi. Watching Hinata train as an academy student and as a new Genin, however, Ura changed her mind about the girl. Ura respected Hinata and tried to help her with her chakra control. Chakra was essential for Hinata since she could see all the vital points for chakra and had to aim at the right point for the right attack. Ura talked with Hinata until her other teammates showed up.

Kiba Inozuka was a good opponent in battle. Ura had fought him several times to show him he was not stronger than her, but it was Shino that Ura had a harder time battling. His use of bugs constantly grossed Ura out to the point she would just give up on him. When the two boys arrived, Ura looked up at them in her half-drunk state and an empty cantine, "Well look who it is."

"Hey, Ura," Kiba smiled brightly as he sat next to Ura, "Wanna have another battle? I've gotten pretty strong lately."

"Nope," Ura stood up, "Today is my day off, so i'm just gonna chill today."

"Aw... Then, do you want to watch me train?" Kiba stood up next to Ura, "It's really impressive!"

"Maybe another day, I want to take a nap," Ura was starting to walk away, but Kiba continued to follow her, "What?"

"You're going off to train so you can be stronger than me," Kiba crossed his arms, "I'm gonna learn your kekkei-genkai eventually, you might as well show it to me now."

"Nope," Ura turned and smiled before tripping him with her chakra string, "And you're going to stay with your team."

"C'mon, Ura," Kiba groaned as she started to walk away without him.

Ura didn't want to be bothered by anyone for the rest of the day. She just wanted to be left alone and think. Since the Chunin Exams were coming up, she had recieved letters from Temari and Kankurou saying they were going to attend this one. That only meant that Gaara was coming too. Would he be different? What would it be like when she would see him again in person. Ura wasn't the same reserved girl like she was before. Now, she was more calm and easy-going, unless someone brought up a touchy subject with her. She felt the wind whip around her as she continued to walk towards the forest part of the village.

"Ura! Ura! Over here! Ura! URA! LOOK OVER HERE! URA! URA! HEY URA!"

She pulled out one hari, ready to kill whoever was calling her. When she turned, some relief came to her when she saw Naruto running at her at his top speed. He was about to jump on her when she pulled out her umbrella and opened it. Naruto didn't expect her to use her umbrella and landed roughly on the top. Ura easily tossed him off her umbrella and strapped it back onto her back, "Well, glad to see you're back safely and your voice box still intact. Where are the others?"

"Sleeping, probably," Naruto laughed as he sat against the tree she tossed him at, "I want to tell you what happened!"

"Can it wait? You know today's my day off," Ura groaned, but she would hear it eventually.

Naruto explained what happened in the Village Hidden in the Mist. Ura learned everything about Haku, Zabuza, Inari, and whoever else he was rambling on about. She continued to walk through the forest with Naruto trailing behind her still talking about the mission. In many ways, Naruto reminded her of Gaara. They both had a beast inside them and both were outcasted by their own village. Naruto, however, had friends where Gaara had only one. Ura took Naruto under her wing when they first met and didn't go off on him like she did so many other Genin in the village. Until she returned to Suna, Naruto was her main priority and protection. She had saved him plenty of times and made sure the missions he was given was good enough for him to complete. Naruto even trained under her command rather than Kakashi's. Where Kakashi taught him teamwork, Ura taught Naruto patience and a steady hand.

She ran her fingers through her dark brown hair, it needed trimmed badly. With it being long and all, it constantly got in her face when she was in battle. Then again, she liked having long hair to play with and try to start trends with. Ura brought out her cantine, but it was empty. She would have to steal some later that evening. Naruto finally finished talking about the mission and asked, "So, what were you doing since we've been gone?"

"Training mostly, the Chunin Exams are coming up and some old friends are coming here from Suna," Ura answered, then looked up at the sky with her light brown eyes, "I haven't seen him in so long, he probably doesn't remember me."

"Who are you talking about?" Naruto whined as he crossed his arms, "I bet he's not as strong as me."

Ura felt her blood run cold, but soon calmed herself when Naruto made that remark. They were possibly the same strength, Gaara and Naruto. On the other hand, Gaara could easily get the upper hand. Ura decided not to yell at Naruto. Instead, she just kept walking in silence as Naruto followed. She hadn't told anyone in the Leaf about her friendship with Gaara. It wasn't that she was afraid to say anything, but she didn't wany anyone to target him.

"Sasuke was looking for you too."

Her friendship with Naruto was nice and she liked hanging out with him. Naruto gave her some hope that she would be the Kazekage one day. The Uchiha, however, she didn't care for. He used his intense hatred for his elder brother to fuel him during battle. Ura didn't find his presence of good use. He was negative and brooding, always trying to be the best above the rest. Ura smirked at her next thought, he had never beaten her in a battle.

"Really? I'm sure he doesn't need me," Ura shrugged and continued walking.

"Yeah, he can't win against you and probably just wants to fight you anyways," Naruto imitated her shrug and continued to follow Ura.

They emerged from behind the trees of the forest and appeared on a cliff overlooking the vast land outside Naruto's village. The tall grass looked like the ocean as the wind turned the waves of grass and shimmered some of the light from the sun. Her eyes scanned the skies, no clouds, bright blue, and the warmth of the sun kissed her pale skin. The spot in which they stood was Ura's favorite spot because it was the direction she would be walking in when she returned to Suna. That spot gave her more hope than anyone else could. She felt powerful, beautiful, strong, and positive when she stood on that cliff. Through all her faults and mistakes and imperfections, Ura felt her best when she knew Suna was in her reach.

'_Soon, I promise, I will return and bring a new regimine_,' she thought proudly as she placed her hands behind her head, "Are you ready for the Chunin Exams?"

"You bet, believe it!" Naruto shouted proudly as he imitated Ura's movements again, "I'm gonna win and be the next Hokage!"

Ura smiled even wider as she playfully punched Naruto, almost knocking him off the cliff, "I'll believe that, but it'll be after I become the next Kazekage!"

::Meanwhile::

Sakura and Sasuke were looking around for the two other people in their team. They didn't count Ura as their teammate due to her not participating in the missions they had to do together. If anything, they considered her a second mentor who helped them train. Sakura didn't really care for Ura only because Sasuke always wanted to fight Ura. He always looked at Ura when she spoke and considered what she had to say. But, whenever it came to Sakura saying something or trying to suggest something, Sasuke dismissed it as if it were nothing.

The Uchiha groaned angrily, "Is this her day off or something? I can't sense her anywhere."

Ok...well, Sakura thought they were looking for BOTH Naruto and Ura. She didn't think that Sasuke was looking for just Ura. Even when Ura wasn't present, Sasuke still mentioned her out of nowhere. It was the most annoying thing Sakura could even fathom, even when Naruto was quite a nuisance. She merely sighed and slowed her pace behind Sasuke, "She'll turn up, maybe Naruto is with Ura too."

"Yeah..." Sasuke grimaced.

They stopped walking when Kakashi turned a corner and waved over to them, "Well, hello students."

"Kakashi, where's Ura?" Sasuke basically demanded as he put his hands in his pockets, "Is she at your place?"

"Hm? She's in the forest with Naruto at that cliff again. It's her day off," Kakashi shrugged as he approached them, "I have to discuss the Chunin Exams with you two, i'm sure Ura is doing the same with Naruto."

"She hasn't even been to the exams," Sakura pointed out, "That's why she's still a Genin and here."

"Ura will be participating in the exams alone," Kakashi stated as he handed them each a pamphlet, "Think about it before you sign your names on these. In five days, you will go to room 301 at the academy to enter. Think very carefully about this decision, many people die during the exams."

::Ura::

"So, those Chunin Exams are no joke..." Naruto grumbled as Ura finished her explination.

"Yep, and you have to take them seriously if you plan on advancing to be the next Hokage," Ura nodded as she toyed with her hari, "I hope you're ready, Naruto. Besides, i'm planning on winning every exam. After these and becoming a Chunin, i'm leaving Konoha."

When she had first told Naruto that she was leaving everyone in Leaf behind, he was furious. He didn't want her to go. Ura had actually felt bad for telling him because his reaction reminded her of Gaara's. Even at that point, standing on the cliff and looking over at her homeland, Ura still felt guilty. Naruto didn't say anything, there was nothing he nor anyone could do to stop her when she decided to leave. Ura sighed and started to turn back towards the village, "C'mon, i'll buy us some ramen."

"I'm not hungry."

Ura knew she had hit the same soft spot. She turned to see Naruto still facing the direction towards Suna, "Let's go, Naruto."

"What's so great about the dessert anyways!" Naruto turned and yelled at her angrily, "If you want to go so badly, then just leave now!"

"I would, but i'm not going back as a Genin," Ura glared at him as she put her hari back in her sack strapped to her thigh.

Naruto just growled at her for a few moments, but then began to calm down. He ended up following her back to the village in reluctant silence. Ura crossed her arms as they entered the bustling village. She couldn't help but enjoy the little village that had been her home for so long. It was always nice weather and the people were friendly with her no matter how cold she was to them at first.

:::::::::::::::::::::::

Suna

:::::::::::::::::::::::

"It's almost time, do you think he remembers her?"

"Oh yeah, there's no doubt he remembers."

"We should've warned her..."

"Too late now... I'm sure she'll be fine."

"I hope..."


	3. Chapter 3

The Team 7 missions were minute and practically made for academy students. Ura watched from the sidelines as she watched Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto complete the basic missions around the village. She helped Naruto out more, pointing out which were weeds and plants, helping him with walking a rather large dog, and catching him before he fell off a waterfall. Who knew one Genin could get in so much trouble? Ura merely just sighed and walked off once he was ok on his own. Kakashi glanced over at her from reading his book, "You won't be around forever to help him."

"I can't just watch him fail," Ura commented as she leaned against a tree, "He is great as a ninja with just some help and guidance."

"He's not a kid anymore, and besides," Kakashi stood up, smiling down at her, "I will grant or deny you permission to help **my** student for now on."

"Really now?" Ura smirked as she turned her gaze to Kakashi, "If you think you can stop me, then go ahead."

"Oh, but I can, several times before haven't I?" Kakashi pointed out.

Ura looked off to the side. No matter how many times she could beat the Genin and some Chunin, she could never win a fight against Kakashi or a few of the other Jonin. As much as she wanted to get tougher missions that were in a team, no Chunin would take her in their team. Only because she was still a Genin, but Ura was determined that she would gain more experience in Suna anyways. She continued to watch the three Genin, Naruto waved at her from time-to-time, but she had to say… When she left, she would miss them.

Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto were dismissed from the small missions for the day and free to go about the village. Ura didn't really know what to do that day since she trained at night anymore since the Chunin Exams weren't too far away. She looked over at Sakura, but the Leaf kunoichi was going after Sasuke. Poor girl, she's just going to get denied again. So, instead, Ura turned over to Naruto to see he was talking to his little academy friends. For such a team, they didn't really quite click together like Kakashi had hoped, or that was what Ura could see. She turned to see Sakura sulking back with her tail between her legs. Ura went over and patted her shoulder, "At least you get to see him later on."

"He said… I was… Worse than Naruto…" Sakura grumbled as she glared over at the blonde shinobi.

Ura also looked over at Naruto and shrugged, "Well, he could've said you are as ugly as shit. It's not all that bad…"

"Coming from you," Sakura growled over at Ura, "He never says stuff like that to you."

"Because I don't really care what he has to say in the first place," Ura smiled as she put her hands behind her head.

One of the academy kids said something that both Ura and Sakura heard. Something about Sakura's forehead and how large it was. The next thing Ura could see was Sakura running at them furiously in hopes of knocking their teeth out. Ura just smiled and watched the little academy kid run, but froze when the kid ran into someone. She looked at the shadowy figure until a familiar resemblance started to occur in her mind. The Suna kunoichi walked over to get a better look and then smiled widely, "Well look who it is!"

Kankurou smiled over at her as he picked the kid up by his collar, "Is this yours?"

"Nope, I'm afraid he's one of the crazy ones escaping the asylum," Ura went over to him, then saw Temari behind him, "I didn't receive a letter saying you were participating in these exams."

"We sent them kinda late," Temari shrugged, but then playfully punched Ura's upper arm, "It's been awhile, you think you're strong enough to compete in these exams?"

"I'm going to have to be, I'll be on my own," Ura stated proudly, causing Temari and Kankurou to give her a shocked look, "What?"

"That's against the rules," Temari pointed out as she crossed her arms, "How come you get the special treatment?"

"Because I plan on leaving here and going back to Suna after these damn tests," Ura sighed, then looked over at Kankurou, "Are you going to hold him there all day, Kankurou?"

"Well, I just want to teach him a lesson, or two," Kankurou balled up his fists and aimed to punch the kid.

"Fine, just make it quick," Temari rolled her eyes, "I'm just not apart of this, ok?"

"Whatever," Kankurou smirked as he readied his punch.

Out of the corner of Ura's eye, she could see Sasuke swooping onto the tree and throwing a small rock at Kankurou's wrist. It would damage his wrist slightly so he couldn't use his puppetry for probably a day or two. Still, it was risky on Suna's part if Ura didn't step in. She quickly pulled out a hari and deflected the rock before it hit Kankurou's wrist and sent it back towards the Uchiha at a faster speed. Of course, he caught it and crushed it to pieces as Kankurou let the academy kid run away. Ura stared up at the Uchiha as Kankurou called over to him to fight him at a closer distance. When he was about to bring out Karasu, Ura gently put a hand on his arm, "He's just a boy, besides you want to save all that fun for the exams."

"True," Kankurou grimaced, then froze one more time.

"Kankurou, you're a disgrace to our village."

That voice. His charka presence. Ura couldn't help but feel her heart skip a beat at the velvet voice echo through her mind. Yes, his presence gave her an ominous feeling that made her nervous, but she trusted that voice before. She had given her friendship to that voice and heard that voice laugh at one point years ago. Her eyes glided to the face that made her want to tear her heart out for what must've happened when she had left. Ura and Gaara stared eye-to-eye with each other that felt like an eternity for her. She heard him say something to Sasuke, then dissipate into sand and reappeared in front of Kankurou. How could he not say anything to her? Didn't he read that letter she left for him? Or didn't he hear her call out to him right before she left? Why was he simply ignoring her as if she wasn't from the same village as him? Ura was about to say something, but Gaara glided his icy eyes towards her as if to remind her that she wasn't allowed to speak.

"Ughm…. Gaara, you remember Ura right?" Temari walked over to Ura timidly and held her arm, "She was in our village for a few-"

"I have no recollection of her," Gaara simply stated as he began to walk away.

Ura felt her throat tighten, rage flooded through her body, and her tongue was about to bleed from how tightly she was biting it. How could he say he didn't know her? What the hell happened after she left? Nothing was making sense to her! Sasuke called over to Gaara, "You, with the gourd, what's your name?"

Gaara turned with his arms crossed, "I'm Gaara of the Sand. I'm curious about you too…who are you?"

"I'm Sasuke Uchiha," he answered with a defiant smirk.

Ura didn't care what the Uchiha had to say. She was devastated that Gaara had simply forgotten her over the years of separation. Natural yes, but…she had hoped that he would've at least asked about her to his siblings. Temari looked over at Ura and gave her arm a gently squeeze, then released her to follow Gaara. Kankurou then murmured to Ura, "Hey, meet me later at the Leaf Hotel, I need to talk to you about a few things that we didn't mention in the letters for your own safety."

"Sure…" Ura managed to say, then he also followed Gaara.

Once they were out of sight, Ura gasped for air and took a step back. She had to find Gaara later and say something to him. He had to remember her, or at least something about her. It wasn't fair in the end… She didn't choose to go to Leaf and she didn't choose to stay. The anger that rushed through her was so great that she had to hit something, something that would break. In her fit of anger, Ura made a swift movement and punch the ground beneath her with all of her strength. To the surprise of the Genin and academy students around her, Ura's punch was enough to start bringing up the earth around the gaping hole beneath her. When Ura finally felt some of the anger seep out of her, she stood up and leaped out of the hole. She was greeted by an icy glare by Sasuke, "What the hell is wrong now?"

"You deflected the stone I threw at that puppet guy," Sasuke glared even harder at her, "Who's side are you on?"

"Obviously theirs!" Ura shouted loudly at him, "I'm not on your damn team and I'm not apart of this damn village! Get that through your sad little head! We are not equals!"

Ura stomped off in her fit of anger, but froze when Sasuke grumbled, "You're just mad because your own village doesn't want you back, nor does that Gaara guy."

Hell was going to break loose. Ura had her back to the Uchiha when she pulled out her umbrella, taking out one hari as well and stabbed the tip of the umbrella. No one… Absolutely no one says anything like that to Ura and gets away with it. When she turned, her light brown eyes were fierce and turning blood red from the rage. Sasuke smirked and got into a fighting stance, "Let's go."

Sakura was trying to diffuse the fight, but Naruto just pulled her back with the help of the academy kids. It was pointless to try and stop Ura when she was livid. Ura tossed that umbrella into the air as Sasuke drew his kunai and ran at her. She pulled out two hari, throwing them at him quickly and began to throw more until they were scattered everywhere. The kunoichi waited until the last minute to dodge his kunai blade, slicing the side of her forearm. It wasn't too bad, just enough to spill some blood on the ground. When Sasuke realized that he had shed some of her blood, he thought the battle was over when Ura remained still. He smirked over at her, twirling the kunai in his right hand, "Too slow."

"I thought we were just getting started," Ura returned his smirk as she ran her fingers across the flesh wound on her arm.

Once her hand was soaked in blood, she snapped her arm in the direction her scattered hari were in. She had droplets of blood all over the scattered hari. Sasuke didn't understand why she was doing that, was it just a scare tastic? If so, then it just creeped him out more than actually scaring him. What got him more confused was seeing her eyes change color from brown to crimson red. Like…a blood red. Ura then flicked both her wrists, something caught Sasuke's eyes. It was a thin string, but blood was soaking all the way up from the hari to Ura's fingers. His eyes widened, what type of jutsu was she performing in front of him? Ura's smirk became wider as she tightened her arms, raising them above her head as all her hari that were touched by the blood droplets lifted into the air. Sasuke then understood what was going to happen and what jutsu she was performing. It was her kekkei-genkai, Blood Jutsu. Sasuke ran at her at his top speed, but Ura stomped her foot into the ground and the other blood she had spilt on the ground formed a sticky barrier around Sasuke. Ura manipulated the blood to form a sticky string around his neck to start choking him, unable to be broken from the strength of her charka control.

Sasuke growled angrily at the predicament she had put him in. Ura just walked over to him with her hari still in the air as her hands gently held her waist, "This is what I can do, Sasuke, and this is just a warning. Start talking shit like that again, and I swear to Kami, I will not let you live."

In an instant, the blood turned to normal blood. Sasuke felt the sticky substance ooze all over him as the blood barrier soaked him. He wreaked of blood as Ura easily gathered her hari with her charka sting and summoned back her umbrella in the sky. She had forgotten why she had threw it up there, but she would have to come up with better jutsu next time she decided to battle someone. The others just stared at the two Genin with surprise. One: Sasuke had lost again. Two: Ura's kekkei-genkai finally became revealed. Ura turned to the others and just nodded towards Naruto, "Well, want to get something to eat?"

:::::::::::::

Suna Team

:::::::::::::

They hadn't even been gone for five minutes that Temari witnessed Ura's fighting skills. She was impressed that the other Suna kunoichi had used her kekkei-genkai with such ease. Especially since most people were afraid of blood or got sick at the sight of it. Though Temari wanted to watch more of the match, she watched as Ura let the cute Sasuke guy go away with his life. When she noticed Gaara also watching, Temari felt a bit unease. Gaara just glared at Ura as if she had tried to kill him instead of the Uchiha. Through the years of Ura's departure, Gaara had actually blamed most of what happened on her. She had heard him mumble that he was planning on killing her when they reached the village. Then why hadn't he? Did he change his mind? Or was it because he saw how strong she had gotten over the years? Temari wanted to warn Ura quickly of what Gaara was planning on doing, but Kankurou had beat her first.

::::::::::::

That Evening

::::::::::::

Ura watched as the waning moon began to rise from the same cliff she had taken Naruto to the other day. It was nice having Gaara near her, but she needed to find him before she went to the hotel that Kankurou was staying at. She needed to talk to him in person before anything else was said. He needed to know her side of the story. After the moon was high in the sky, Ura leaped away from the forest and roof-to-roof until she found the one Genin she was looking for. Ura stood behind Gaara as he sat on the highest roof in the village and gazing at the moon. She felt very odd near him now since they were both older than they were before they separated. Though she was also three years his senior, Ura still felt that connection as if they were never separated. Was it strange to want to protect someone that much when he was merely 12 and she was 15?

She was about to say something, but Gaara beat her to it again, "Come any closer…and I'll kill you."

"I know you remember me," Ura stated as she took a step closer, causing his gourd to open and sand slowly seeped out.

Without taking another step, Ura waited for his response. He didn't turn to look at her, "I don't care."

"What happened was out of my control. I didn't choose to leave you alone, Gaara. If I had been given the choice, I would've stayed in the village and been with you. Didn't you even get that letter I wrote you before-"

"You're wasting my time," Gaara slowly stood up and then turned to glare at her, "Stop talking."

"You're not listening to-"

Sand instantly covered her mouth as more sand wrapped around her body. She felt the sand drag her closer to him as he glared even harder at her, "If you even take one step back into my village, I will hunt you down and kill you slowly."

Gaara was about to crush her, but realized he was merely holding a clone. Her 'skin' started to liquefy into blood in his sand. He turned and saw her standing besides him. Ura wasn't going to hurt him, a smile formed on her face as she put her hands behind her head, "Since you won't listen to me, I'll just be quick. No matter how many times you threaten me, I'm going to be the one who will protect you."

He just gave her a cold stare as Ura jumped off the building and entered the hotel across the street…

As soon as she knocked on the door where Kankurou was staying, he opened it and nearly punched her face. Ura hadn't expected his punch and stumbled back into the wall as she held her head, "What the fuck, Kankurou!"

"Are you trying to die!" Kankurou shouted as he threw her into his hotel room, "Gaara wants you dead and you go and visit him! Alone!"

"How was I supposed to know he actually remembered me! He didn't say anything to me earlier!"

Kankurou calmed down just enough to tell Ura everything that happened to Gaara after she had left for the Leaf. Ura was horrified that Yashamaru willingly tried to kill Gaara and the other assassins. She felt her stomach churn at what could've been prevented. Even at a young age, she knew that she could've helped Gaara more than what anyone else was trying to do. She sat on one of the beds in the room and just thought about what Kankurou said. Gaara was the monster everyone thought him to be, he became what Ura didn't want him to be. Blood thirsty. Angry. Hate. Evil. Ura wanted to cry for Gaara, but it was pointless. He was who he was and there was nothing she could do at that point. Ura just had to keep to her promise to him and do her best to protect him so he could pass the Chunin Exams. She wanted the best for Gaara, even when he wanted her dead she wouldn't give up on him.

The Suna shinobi noticed Ura's silence as he washed the paint off of his face, "I… There's one more thing…you ought to know before you forgive Gaara completely."

Ura looked up to see Kankurou's saddened eyes, "What?"

"You see, it was a few days after you left when this one happened. Gaara…well…he killed your dad for sending you away…"

All was still as Ura heard the news of her father's too soon death. She was angry with him, yes, but…to kill him? Over the years, she had forgiven her father for sending her to the Leaf. But, in recent years, she had prophetic dreams that he had only wanted her safety. Ura felt tears sting her eyes as her feelings for Gaara were in jeopardy. Kankurou sat across from Ura, not really knowing what or say to her for comfort. He reached over and held her limp hand, giving it a soft squeeze, "I'm sorry…"

"I'm…I'm not sad that he's dead, it was his time probably. My mother, is she ok? How was the baby?" Ura asked as she thought of her mother.

"Your mom is fine and the baby is healthy, it's a girl she named Leila," Kankurou answered, hoping Ura wasn't going to break down in tears.

It felt like her heart was going to tear to pieces. How could she just leave her family since her dad was dead by Gaara's hands. It wasn't fair at all… Ura looked out the window to still see Gaara gazing up at the moon. She wanted to hate him and hurt him for killing her family. It wasn't fair that he got to choose who could live and die! He couldn't play the role of Kami! But… Ura calmed down, she had to forgive him as well. Gaara didn't lead a normal life and never will. Hating him will only fuel him. Wanting to hurt him will only get herself killed. How could she help him without wanting to kill him when he least expected it?

"So… What are you thinking?" Kankurou asked, hoping to divert the conversation.

"Well… I forgive Gaara," Ura sighed as she continued to gaze at Gaara through the clear window, "And… I'm going to keep my promise and protect him with everything that I am."

"Wait…what?" Kankurou looked at her as if she were crazy, "Did I hear you right?"

Ura turned over to Kankurou and shrugged, "My father wasn't a good man, so I know why Gaara killed him. I will visit his grave to pray for his spirit. But, for Gaara, I want to mend what we had before. I will continue to fight for him until he realizes that I want to make up for my absence."

"Ura, I know you missed him, but he's not the same Gaara as before," Kankurou explained as he stood up to shut the curtains so she couldn't look at Gaara anymore, "He even threatens me and Temari and has tried to kill us several times before. You can't change him, we've tried everything."

"It's because you two are his blood family," Ura stood up as she crossed her arms over her chest, "You see… A family blood love is different than…"

Kankurou watched as a small blush tinted Ura's cheeks and his own rage began to fuel. What was she saying? Well, he knew…but he didn't want to believe it. Ura turned her gaze over to Kankurou with a soft smile, "It's different than the love I feel for Gaara."


	4. Chapter 4

"She said what!"

Temari had just finished putting her hair up when Kankurou had told her what Ura had said the night before. She put down her brush and wanted to strangle the other Suna kunoichi for even saying those words. Kankurou went to Temari's mirror and began to paint his face, "I can't believe she said it either. Maybe she was just bluffing or something."

"Girls don't lie like that, Kankurou," Temari sighed as she made sure her fan was locked, "It's just… Why Gaara? Why not you? You're a guy, go out and make her love you!"

"If I had actually had feelings for her, then sure, why not. But, the fact is, Ura said she loved Gaara and that's just how it is," Kankurou shrugged as he put his paint away, "Maybe she'll just forget about him, come back to Suna, become whatever, marry, settle down, and die. End of story."

"Right," Temari rolled her eyes and began to walk out, "I'm going to go find her and talk some sense into her."

"Have fun," Kankurou waved after her, "Meet you at the first exam."

:::::::::

Ura

:::::::::

She couldn't believe she actually said it. For years, she struggled with her emotions and tried to find the best word to put to her feelings for Gaara. Yes, he was three years younger than her, so what? It wasn't the age thing that made her feel angry towards her feelings, but it was why. Why did she want to love Gaara when he tried to kill her last night, then apparently he killed her dad? Ura ran her fingers through her hair as she walked towards the academy to turn in her slip. The last thing she wanted to do was be near Gaara after coming to peace with her feelings. Protecting him was one thing, but loving him? She paused and looked at the place where she had last seen Gaara, maybe it wasn't too bad being in love with him. Ura smiled to herself as she continued walking. Back when they were kids, she hadn't lost faith in him and she wouldn't turn her back on him now. In honest truth, she knew Gaara needed someone to love him without conditions. Temari and Kankurou were not enough because they were family. Their blood runs through his veins as well. But if he knew Ura had loved him as well, maybe it would change things later on.

Actions speak louder than words. Gaara didn't need to know her love for him at any moment in time. If he found out or asked, that was his own choice then. Ura made a silent vow that she would prove to Gaara that she was worth his time and memory. In order to do so, she would have to prove that she was stronger than him and able to protect him from any harm that came his ways. A smile of determination formed on her lips as she entered the academy, going all the way up to room 301 to turn in her slip. Good thing she got there early, two Chunin were there placing a Genjutsu to fool the ones who showed up later.

"Ura!"

The kunoichi turned to see Temari approaching her casually. Ura smiled and waved, but Temari seemed pissed about something. They both turned in their slips and went to the waiting room where some other Genin were also there. Temari narrowed her eyes on Ura, "I don't know what you're trying to play at, but Kankurou told me what you said last night."

A wave of nausea wafted through Ura as she listened to Temari. The blonde Suna kunoichi placed a hand on her hip as she looked Ura up and down, "Do you have any idea what you're getting yourself into if you say those words?"

Ura glanced at the ground as she slowly nodded her head, "I know… Look, if it means anything, I know my feelings won't be returned."

Temari stopped talking for a moment and listened. Ura looked back up at Temari with softer eyes, "I know what happened to Gaara and I can't do anything about it. Without me being there, it left him vulnerable to loneliness, and that's an unforgettable pain. The only thing I can do now is protect him and give him all the love I can give him. If that means that I will never receive the same love in return, then…then I'm ok with that. There are sacrifices everyone has to make."

"You know, if you solely love Gaara, you can't be the Kazekage then," Temari pointed out as gave Ura a serious gaze, "You must protect everyone and give everyone your all. If you can only do that for Gaara, then you will only remain less than a Kage."

Ura thought about what Temari had said as the Suna kunoichi waited for her siblings in a different part of the room. Everyone made sacrifices right? Then that would mean giving up her dream of being the Kazekage because she wanted to protect only Gaara. Though she wanted to think more, Ura decided to be with the people of her own village. Ura walked over to Temari and sat next to her. Temari gave her a confused look, "Are you sitting with us?'

"I am a Suna kunoichi, correct?" Ura pointed to her headband of Sand, "Don't I belong here?"

Temari was angry with Ura, but she still admired her old friend. She smiled and offered Ura a seat as the talked about what was going on in Sunagakure. Eventually, Kankurou and Gaara showed up as well. Gaara wasn't pleased to see Ura among his group, he didn't say anything though. Kankurou talked with Ura as well as the room became more packed with people. Naruto had an outburst saying he would beat all the others, and Ura just laughed at his little rant. Temari looked over at Ura, "Do you know them?"

"I helped them train," Ura answered, "You see Sasuke over there? He may be the rookie of this year's academy students, but he hasn't won a single battle with me yet. Yesterday was the first time I used my kekkei-genkai with him and he didn't stand a chance."

"Damn brats…" Kankurou scolded beneath his breath.

Ibiki and other shinobi entered the room to explain the seating arrangement. Ura was given a number and found her seat which happened to be right next to Gaara. When Gaara sat next to Ura, he said nothing to her as Ura smiled brightly at him. He turned to glance at her from the corner of his eyes and grumbled, "Stop looking at me like that."

"Good luck, Gaara," Ura continued to smile as she twirled her pencil like a hari in her fingers.

Ibiki explained the rules to everyone and began the test immediately. Ura glanced over the questions with some unease forming in her as realized that written tests were not her strong point at all. The fact that they put more penalties on getting the questions wrong than cheating were quite confusing as well. In the academy in Suna, written tests were basically simple essays about how to correctly throw a shuriken or how to use the wind to the advantage. These questions… To make it even simpler, were far beyond what she would ever understand! Ura tapped her pencil in a beat to one of her favorite songs, which caused Gaara to growl at her for disturbing him.

"Sorry…" Ura whispered an apology and just tapped the pencil on her thigh.

She glanced over at Gaara to see he was using his sand to copy answers from another shinobi. Well, at least he was using some form of cheating without getting caught. Ura gazed back down at her own lack of answers with distaste. So, they were doing much more than just a written test. Getting answers would be tricky if she just looked over at someone else's paper, obviously. How could she get answers…? What about her Blood Jutsu? Ura felt her stomach churn, how the hell was she supposed to do that when blood has a strong odor? In order to know the exact movements of another person, she would need their blood for one fact. As much as she wanted to cheat, there was little for her to use many of her blood jutsu techniques. Her specialty wasn't retrieving information, it was just to kick some ass and that was about it.

In any case, she had to try something. She took the pencil to her lap and punctured her palm until she felt some blood drop to the floor. The sound of her blood reaching the floor was drowned out by others tapping their pencil on the paper for answers. Ura felt some relief, but now the hard part was about to commence. She glanced around for her first target, an open flesh wound would do perfectly if she could get her blood inside someone else to know what they know or see what they see. Her eyes scanned the people around her without turning her head, there was a guy that had a scab on his lower back. That would have to do, anything farther could mean her getting caught. Ura used her chakra in her blood to move slowly onto the guy with the scab and hard her blood absorb into the hardened blood clot. It took about a minute before she finally could feel the sensations of his organs and know he was a healthy young man. Ura closed her eyes and focused on using her blood inside of him to get to his retinas. The image she had was upside down, but it was all she needed to get some answers down.

Fifteen minutes passed before she had nine of the ten answers. Ura was very much relieved to know that she didn't get caught cheating. It was a risky process and it was even more dangerous for the person she cheated off of. Mixing her blood with his could mean a fatality on their part, but Ura knew it was worth the risk. She had to be near Gaara and in order for her to do so, she had to pass each exam with flying colors. Now all she had to do was wait for the tenth question, find some way to answer it, and call it a day.

People were getting caught cheating by the minute. Ura noticed Sakura and Sasuke doing fine on their own, but Naruto was a sitting duck. He was obviously having a hard time and was struggling. It looked like Hinata was trying to help him as best as she could though. As much as she wanted to help, Ura couldn't choose sides each time an exam was given. She had to stick by Gaara, no matter what the costs. Finally, the tenth question was about to be given. Ura remained silent as Ibiki gave them all two choices: stay and possibly fail or leave. It was an antagonizing question, but Ura glanced over at Gaara through the corner of her eye. Leaving would mean watching him become stronger than her. A glint of determination entered her pupils as she turned her attention back at Ibiki.

'_You're not going to be stronger than me, Gaara,_' Ura thought as she leaned back in her chair, "You ready, Gaara?"

"Shut up," Gaara growled, Ura could tell she was definitely pissing him off at that point and decided to stop trying to anger him.

"For those who remain… I'd like to say… That you've all passed the first exam!"

Ura was about to fall out of her seat, spit up her breakfast, and possibly pass out if she wasn't already shocked that she wasted her time on gaining information. Then again, exaggerating wasn't the best idea, so she just waited through his spiel about information and the importance. Of course it was important, Ura scribbled her name at the top and looked up to see Anko, one of the elite Jonin, drop in through the window. Though she saw the woman as a nuisance, she definitely got someone's attention rather quickly. Ura was happy to hear that the next exam would be a survival one. They were dismissed for the time being to get some rest and calm down, but then Anko approached her, "Hey, you, I need to talk to you in private."

"What the hell for?" Ura crossed her arms, then noticed that another shinobi appeared behind Anko.

"I heard that the Lord Hokage gave you permission to continue the exams on your own," Anko commented as she eyed Ura, "I say you have to be on a team."

"I don't care what you have to say, I'm on my own," Ura was about to walk out, until the shinobi appeared in front of the door.

He was a Sand-nin, but she couldn't remember which one he was. He eyed her with a smirk, "You've grown strong, Ura, I'm impressed by your strength and kekkei-genkai."

"This is Baki, he will be your new sensei," Anko came in between them, "I'm sure you'll like your new team…since you come from the same country as they do."

"But… Kakashi-"

"Has already signed the papers to your release," Anko showed Ura the papers, who read them quite carefully, "If you pass these exams and become a Chunin, you're free to go back with Baki. The same if you lose, you are free to go whenever you please."

Freedom. The ability to return home and see her family once again. To be able to be on the same team as Gaara and protect him at whatever cost. That was what Ura had truly wanted. But, she looked up at Baki with uncertainty, she didn't know who he was or how he dealt with people. Kakashi was laid back and gave Ura a hard time sometimes, but this guy…he seemed like the type to not piss off. Baki smirked down at her, "I'm sure you will be quite pleased."

"Right… I'm gonna go-"

"You will begin your training," Baki stated as he grabbed her wrist, "I want to see your kekkei-genkai."

::::::::::::::

Team 7

::::::::::::::

Hearing that Ura was no longer apart of their group gave some relief, but it also gave them something to worry about. Sasuke knew that Ura's allegiance to Suna was great, but signing her back over? Was that even wise of Kakashi? He had trained Ura personally and he just gave her away as if she wasn't an asset? The Uchiha had seen her kekkei-genkai, she wasn't the type to be given away that easily. He looked over at Sakura to see a smirk on her face. She definitely shouldn't be smirking. If they were in a battle with Ura and the new team she was on, then they would all be killed within a minute. Sasuke glared at his feet as Kakashi waited for their reactions.

"Why…why would you do that?"

Kakashi was surprised to see how angry Naruto was and how bad he was taking the information. Naruto growled up at Kakashi as he balled up his fists, "That's not fair! You're the one who trained her! She trained us and even helped us become stronger! Why did you let her go!"

"She wasn't ours to begin with," Kakashi stated as he stared down at Naruto, "You know Ura has always claimed herself as Suna kunoichi and never a Leaf-nin. Giving her back to her own village was a necessary move."

"It's for the best," Sakura waved off the angry air around her and placed her hands on her waist, "She wasn't really on this team anyhow."

"Sakura… You saw her Blood Jutsu… You saw how strong she is compared to any of us," Sasuke glared over at his female teammate, "She is capable of killing us all."

Kakashi sighed as he leaned against the building closest to him, "Ura will not use her kekkei-genkai jutsu on any of you to kill you. Letting her go back to Suna will settle some animosity inside of her and give her relief. Just get over this and go back to your exams. Ura is not your enemy, just watch out for her teammates."

:::::::::::::

Ura

:::::::::::::

Now that she was once again a true kunoichi of Suna, Ura felt even more freedom as she showed Baki her entire Blood Jutsu. He seemed impressed, but saw the toll it left on her body from using her own blood. It nearly made her lifeless and weak. Baki grimaced, he would have to train her harder than ever to prepare her for the next exams. He approached Ura and took away her umbrellas, "If you plan on continuing, you will need to learn how to use your own jutsu before you use these. By midnight tonight, I expect you to master your Blood Jutsu without getting exhausted or tire from blood loss. If you cannot, I will take you off this team."

A challenge, Ura thought to herself as she glared up at Baki, but not one she would give up on. Ura nodded and summoned her blood back into her. It would be a long nine hours if she wanted to prepare herself to remain on the team. She started off by using her chakra to combine with her blood in order to preserve her strength. Her chakra control was phenomenal for her specialty and would help her improve her kekkei-genkai. As she trained through the long hours, the only thoughts Ura could keep to help keep her going was of Gaara. She wanted to be able to protect him and keep him safe from all the harm in the world. In many words, she wanted his forgiveness and to be able to be good enough for him. She wasn't good enough to remain in Suna, she wasn't good enough to have a team made for her when she came as a Genin to Leaf, and she was now finally good enough to join a Suna team with Gaara as her teammate. With all the strength she had in her, Ura trained until she could feel no pain from losing her blood in her kekkei-genkai. Even as the night wore on and the stars shined above her tired, aching body, Ura continued to train until Baki showed up again at the stroke of midnight.

With her on-spot-training strength exercise, Ura had managed to skip the cut and remain on the team. Baki was still not impressed and tossed her the umbrellas, "Use your Blood Jutsu with your umbrellas. Have that to an acceptable potential or I'll take you fully out of the Chunin Exams for good. I'll be back at sunrise."

Ura wanted to pass out and rest, but it wouldn't do her any good. With bruises and cuts all over her pale, moon light skin, Ura readied her umbrellas with hari. She place a small amount of her blood in a capsule that she strapped to her thigh close to where her black shorts ended high on her thighs. The capsule would be a place where she could dip her hari into when she needed a quick Blood Jutsu. For her umbrellas, since it was tricky enough, drilled a hole through the pole with a hari and poured some of her own blood inside each pole. To hold the blood inside, she used a cork similar to Gaara's gourd cork. The only way she could use a Blood Jutsu for her umbrellas if she threw a hari through the cork to where the blood was. Once the blood was captured by the hari, she could manipulate her blood to seep through to the other hari hidden in the umbrella to use her jutsu.

Plus, it would be even easier if she could use her opponent's blood as well. Ura was quite pleased with her work and trained even harder until the sun began to rise. Baki showed up again and noticed her new abilities that he had instructed her to create. It would do, for now. Accepting her work, Baki allowed her to rest before the next exam was to begin. Ura strapped her umbrellas on her back, but couldn't make another move. She stumbled onto the ground, exhaustion finally came at a price and sleep took a hold of her.

When she woke, she was in a soft bed that wasn't her own. She sat up slowly and rubbed her head, where was she? That room didn't look familiar at all. Ura went to swing her feet off the bed, but found that she couldn't move! She took off the sheets to see sand gripping her legs, threatening to crush them to pieces. There was only one person… Gaara formed from the sand at the foot of her bed. A craze look in his eyes as he glared down at her with such hatred that Ura didn't know if she was going to live to see another day. She waited for his next move. If she was to lose her legs, then fine. But why? Why was Gaara doing this all of a sudden? It then occurred to her, he had been told by Baki or his siblings that she was now on his team. His glare intensified as he watched her put her right hand into the hand sign of 'blood'. Ura's legs liquefied into blood as did the rest of her body. The real Ura was at the corner of the room with her guard up, "We can't fight now, Gaara…"

She could see the veins in his eyes, the blood rushing through him as his anger rose to a higher level. He was too mad for words to know that she was now his teammate. Ura didn't want to fight Gaara at that moment, she was still too weak from the training from the night before. Instead, Ura lowered her guard, Gaara didn't need to see her try and cower away like others did before they met their death. She would see him as an equal, like a person, and that she was good enough to keep alive for a little while longer.

There was nothing she could say. She wanted to be on his team whether he liked it or not. He had to know that she wasn't going away just because he wanted her to. Ura was not the type to run and hide like a scared school girl. She was Suna kunoichi who loved the one her village feared the most. Her gaze softened as she saw the scared little boy she had protected years ago. The young man in front of her was not that same little boy, but he was still there, deep inside. Ura took in a deep breath as she walked passed Gaara and to the door. When their shoulders met, Gaara then whispered, "All the same, I will kill you before we leave this village."

"I'm stronger than you, Gaara," Ura dared to say as she passed him and left the room. Well, make that running out of the building as soon as the door closed.


	5. Chapter 5

Team Suna waited outside their gate. Ura was more than pleased to be on a team, especially with her friends from Suna. The problem…was Gaara. He was still angry that Ura was on his team and coming back to his village. He didn't look at her or say anything to her. When Gaara wanted to say something, he would drag his siblings away from her in order to say it. Ura didn't show it, but it hurt her each time he did that. Isolating her was his best weapon in luring her away from the others. Ura couldn't let him get to her that easily, not when she was so close to going back to her home. Of course she wasn't going to let Gaara scare her from returning to the Sunagakure. He could threaten to kill, try to kill her, and probably crush all her bones, but he wouldn't scare her. Ura waited patiently as Gaara dragged his siblings away. As much as it tore at her heart, Ura held a defiant smirk as she waited for the announcements of the beginning of the survival exam. Curiosity rang through her as she looked a ways away to find Naruto. She hadn't seen him since before the first exam and wondered how he was prepared for this one.

She might find him inside the forest, Ura shrugged it off as Temari and Kankurou approached her, "So, how is he going to kill me?"

"Just don't die," Kankurou warned as he passed to the gate.

"Follow us from a distance," Temari also warned as she followed her middle brother.

So, Gaara was trying to get her killed instead of killing her himself. A good way to make it look like that, but she knew Gaara wouldn't let her die that easily. Once the gates opened, Ura ran behind Temari and Kankurou for a few moments before a strong force shoved her to the ground below. When she slammed into the ground, Ura saw that a pile of sand was the object that stopped her from continuing. Gaara passed her in the branches as the sand followed him to his gourd. So that's how Gaara wanted to play as well? Ura wiped the remaining sand off of her and followed from a distance. What type of scroll did her team have? Right, an Earth scroll, so she needed a Heaven scroll in order to pass. She continued running for a few more hours in hopes of reaching the others, but it was no use. Gaara's chakra was too far for her to find and was unable to locate her new team.

With the light starting to fade Ura didn't have the choice but to move on and keep going. No one else was watching her back, so why stop? Ura came to a point where she needed water, and Temari had the only cantine. She found one of the rivers, but it was out in an open area. What if someone was waiting for a stray like her? She didn't want to tempt fate so she remained in the shadows as she brought out one umbrella. This exam was going to be harder than she expected, especially with Gaara trying to get her to die out there. Ura sat down as she wondered her next move. If she kept running, there was a possibility she could run into a stronger team. Remaining in that one spot was also dangerous because if someone found her, she was dead. Going off to that stream is risky because it's way too spacious and didn't want to run the risk of fighting someone.

Screams echoed through the forest as the sun began to get lower and lower. Ura couldn't wait anymore, she had to find her team or else she would be killed. Heaven scroll or no, she had to find her team no matter what! Strapping her umbrella back on her back, Ura leaped to the branches and went as fast as she could go. There was nothing that could stop her as she went faster and faster, pushing herself to her fastest limits. It took her about an hour to finally pick up on Kankurou's familiar chakra and stopped at a branch high above the battle scene. She had to catch her breath and examine what was going on below. Her blood red eyes slowly turned back to a light brown as she began to calm down. From what the battle offered below, Gaara was the only one fighting the battle by choice. Temari and Kankurou were on the sidelines just watching. The opponents were using umbrellas as well. Ura could tell their moves before they even did them.

Catching her breath, Ura opened one umbrella and threw it in the air. The other, she used to glide down with and spin to deflect the hari that the opponent spewed to aim at Gaara. Her hari deflected their own as Ura let go of the umbrella and threw a kunai at the highest umbrella in the sky, she wanted it to go through the cork and into the blood. Ura landed in front of Gaara and glared at the opponents, "Don't you DARE try and attack him!"

She could hear Gaara growl angrily at her intrusion, but she looked back at him with her blood red eyes. The difference in his own surprise was quite noticeable that she caught his attention with her secret kekkei-genkai. She turned her attention back at the opponents her just laughed at her, "Do you think that's all you have to do to scare us? You foolish girl.."

"No, but this will," Ura pulled out another hari and threw it at the main one.

It didn't go through him, but it left a bloody cut on his face. He merely laughed and was about to say something, but Ura reached out her hand and his blood formed a string-like gooey substance to her hand. She yanked on string of blood to where he was on his knees. He was shaking quite badly as Ura could feel every ounce of his blood in his body began to pump faster from the worry going through his head. Ura yanked harder and harder as more blood came out, "This is my Rope of Blood Jutsu, where your blood is just a rope in my hands. Each time I pull, I'm pulling out more and more of your blood. But I'm trying to be impressive here, so let's have some more fun!"

She used her hand sign of 'blood' with her free hand and raised it towards the highest umbrella, "Rain of Hari: Blood Jutsu!"

Ura used a slicing motion with her jutsu hand down to the ground. In a matter of seconds, the entire team was stabbed by millions of hari from high above. Instead of the hari just going through their bodies, the hari remained inside, soaking up all their blood. Ura smirked when she saw the fear go through their faces as they waited for her next move. She raised her jutsu hand back up in the air, forcing all of the hari that entered their body to go back into the air. Their blood was attached to the hari, forming a thin string as they all felt another tug at their life. Ura tugged harder on the rope of blood from the main opponent, he coughed up some more blood and trembled even more. This was torture for them, feeling as if they could die at any moment because of Ura's jutsu.

"I'm not done yet!" Ura shouted as she released the main opponent's rope of blood and picked up a random hari at her feet, "This…this will be your final moment."

She cut her forearm in the same scar she left before and watched her blood drip down to the ground. Using her chakra control, she made her blood seep into their many holes from the hari and closed her eyes. Their hearts were slowing, but they were at a rhythm. Too close to death, but far enough to sustain life. Her blood surrounded their hearts and sunk into the beating muscle. The blood change was too much and rapidly the heart began to die on it's own. To live through that process was unbearable as their screams of mercy vibrated all around Ura. She watched as their hearts began to bleed from the change of blood type and then finally…stopped beating. Ura opened her eyes to see all of them suffocating from a lack of a heart beat. She crossed her arms, watching them suffer was something she had never seen an opponent do. This was her first kill, but it wouldn't be her last.

They died. All three of them did not survive her kekkei-genkai. Ura caught her umbrellas and began to pick up the hari. When she was finished, Temari and Kankurou were surprised at her abilities and her powers. But it wasn't their approval she was waiting for, it was Gaara's. His expression changed from hatred to curious. His eyes were non-emotional and his demeanor was somewhat calm. Ura could at least say she had made some impact on him. To her surprise, Gaara walked over to the corpses and picked up their scroll, it wasn't exactly what they wanted. He went to another corpse and found that they had two scrolls instead, so Gaara took the Heaven Scroll and eyed Ura.

"You should've said you could do this," was all he said before he turned away from her.

Instead of taking off like he had before, Gaara actually waited for Ura to run with his siblings. Ura was beaming on the inside, her first kill had impressed Gaara enough to wait and kill her. He saw her as an asset to the team then, right? Well, hopefully.

They reached the tower in no time, and Ura was still pretty psyched that she actually used her Blood Jutsu on someone. Ura then noticed she was covered in blood, mostly her own by the looks of it. She excused herself to the bathroom and began to wash some of it off. When she turned, Kankurou was at the doorway with his headgear removed, "This is the girl's room… Can't you read?"

"Whatever, look, that was really good out there," Kankurou started, then looked at her seriously, "Don't use that again."

"I'll do what I want," Ura stated, but he took her wrist when she tried to walk passed him, "Killing isn't going to get you far with Gaara. Take it from me, it'll just piss him off later on and then he'll come looking for your blood."

Ura smirked up at Kankurou, "You don't need to worry about me. What happened back there was just to get some approval. I got what I wanted and now I'm ready to be a bit more clean about my fights. How about that?"

"It's fine, for now," Kankurou shrugged.

Ura accidently hit the counter and her canteen fell out of her back pocket in her black mini shorts, "Whoops."

"You have the water? I thought Temari-"

"It's not water!" Ura quickly picked up the canteen, "It's…uh..soup."

"Soup?" Kankurou crossed his arms as he eyed her suspiciously, "C'mon, what's in it?"

"Nothing!" Ura was about to leave the bathroom but Kankurou pulled her back with his chakra string, "No fair!"

"Life's not fair," Kankurou snatched the canteen from her and smelled the top, "Are you serious! You're really drinking sake!"

"So?" Ura freed herself from his string and poked his shoulder, "You'd let me drink it if I promised you stuff."

A sly smirk came onto Kankurou's face as he placed the canteen in her back pocket, "You'll have to keep your promise if you drink that stuff around me."

"But, you never had a taste for it so I don't see the use of drinking around you," Ura acted as if it was nothing and turned around, "You wouldn't be able to handle a woman like me."

"A woman? You're only the same age as me!" Kankurou pointed out as he stomped over to her.

Ura flipped her hair over her shoulder and winked at him, "Maturity wise, I'm way passed you."

Kankurou was about to go off until Temari entered the bathroom, "Enough, Baki is here."

The two silenced quickly and followed Temari to where Baki and Gaara were. Ura was timid at first, she wasn't used to being on a team. Baki explained the scrolls to them and the importance of each. There was something else, something that made her wonder what was really going on. She was also thinking about her most recent kills on those other Genin that were trying to fight Gaara. The fact that Gaara did not stop her from fighting made Ura think even harder. If he let her fight, Gaara saw her kekkei-genkai and her strength as a kunoichi. She barely looked from the corner of her eye to see that he was staring at her instead of his usual glare of hatred. There was no way his feelings had changed; Gaara still hated her nonetheless. But, his hatred turned to intrigue most likely. From what she was guessing, as she turned her attention back to Baki, was that Gaara had decided to debate whether or not killing her was exciting or out of boredom. Apparently, Ura smirked slightly to herself, Gaara considered her a worthy opponent. Well, hopefully.

They were the first ones there and no one else had arrived just yet. Ura was wandering around the tower in hopes of finding a good place to build up her chakra. She finally found a small room in which she could light a few candles and build up her chakra in her blood stream. Lighting some candles she carried in her pack, she also brought out a scroll for her kekkei-genkai and bit her thumb pad to smear a small stain on the scroll to infuse her chakra with her blood. She sat on her knees, motionless as she murmured a soft incantation and began to feel her chakra and blood flow together as one. It was a painful process each time, and it only became more painful when she became stronger and stronger. Sweat beaded down her face as she tried to keep her concentration, the scent of blood wafting around her as the flame turned red from the scroll emitting blood red chakra.

Ura concentrated by visualizing her chakra becoming her blood, watching each organ take in the chakra as if it were blood and passing it along her vital systems. Her eyes were closed tight as she watched how her organs worked with her chakra. This process was enabling her to become more immune to attacks and helped her body take in the shock, or vibrations, of a direct hit. The only down-fall of that process was if she unintentionally received a cut or stab wound, she lost both chakra and blood. Thus the use of her umbrellas were both offensive and defensive while her hari were more for show and to accurately hit vital organs in her opponent's body. She could think of only one opponent that would be a harder target to hit and that was Gaara due to his sand.

Her body ached from the stress she had put her body through from training for hours for Baki. Then the killing of the Grass Genin for Gaara in order to make sure he was safe. Finally, the meditation process of combining her chakra and blood together was also taking a toll on her. Each breath she took was strained as some of her organs tried to naturally fight back the foreign body that was chakra. Forcing her organs to work under such a pressure to take in chakra with blood was risky, but necessary for her. As minutes passed by, Ura then began to feel more relaxed and stable as her body began to function under her conditions that she gave herself. That meant that her chakra was flowing throughout her body as well as the natural chakra points. Ura changed her infusion process to a calming meditation regimen as she put her hands together in a jutsu hand sign, but remained still as she calmed her breathing more. Her eyes were shut softly as she remained silent to the world, listening to the distant voices and calming her mind.

Footsteps were slowly approaching her from outside the room, where the door was her only blockade to the world. Ura's curiosity was peaking as she listened even closer as she heard the door open without the knob being touched. She slowly opened her eyes to see Hinata. It was definitely weird to see the Hyuuga girl in such an odd state, but she was sort of relieved. A soft smile formed on Ura's lips as she saw Hinata glancing at the red candles and the open scroll, "Don't be scared, this is just for my kekkei-genkai."

"O-oh…" Hinata nodded softly as she took a step towards Ura, "I-I am happy to see you are safe. We watched you…fight those Grass Genin…"

"Oh that?" Ura rolled up her scroll and put it back in her pack as she blew out the candles, "That was just to impress someone. I don't think I'll be using that on anyone from here though."

Ura left the room, but Hinata could see the difference in Ura's body with her own eyes. The Hyuuga girl seemed shyer and more timid now that she could see how strong Ura really was compared to most of the Leaf Genin. Hinata looked up at Ura with a worried gaze, "Is..is it true? You are free to leave Konoha?"

It was at that moment that Ura felt some guilt for wanting to leave Konoha so badly. Though she can easily say she didn't like Konoha, it didn't mean that she didn't make some friends along the way. Hinata was like a side-kick to her, always there when she was meditating or training or just hanging out. Ura saw Hinata as that girl who wanted attention and to be heard, so Ura played the part as the listening ear. She knew Hinata's story of being the oldest daughter and also as the one who was told she shouldn't be a kunoichi for Leaf. A common story for most ninja who needed a good push in the right direction once in a while. Ura glanced away as she leaned against the closed door, "Yeah… It's true. I'm apart of the Suna Team now and…win or lose, I'm going home with them."

Hinata turned her gaze to the ground. Ura didn't really consolidate that many people in her lifetime. She wasn't necessarily the hugging type, but she could be for some people. Reaching out her hand, she gently squeezed Hinata's arm in hopes that they could maintain their friendship. Hinata looked up at Ura with a soft smile, "As…long as you're happy… Then I am happy as well."

At least the Hyuuga girl was putting on a strong front, "Thanks, Hinata."

After a few moments of silence, Ura then asked, "So…where do we sleep if we're waiting another day and a half?"

"Oh… I... I think we sleep anywhere," Hinata shrugged as they began to walk down to where their teams were at.

Ura didn't want Hinata to be near the others on her team. While she knew Temari and Kankurou really weren't as bent on harm as Gaara, she didn't want to threaten Hinata's life. Ura instead walked Hinata back down to her own team and wished them luck on the next exam. Kiba wanted to talk to Ura a bit more, but it was getting dangerously late and she didn't want her team to get suspicious. Ura waved to them as she left and returned to the room where the Suna siblings waited. Kankurou was the first to eye her when she entered the room, "So…"

Temari must've noticed too, with Ura's chakra in two different areas of her body, she was basically a walking chakra unit. Even Gaara just gazed at her with no emotion in his eyes. She shrugged it off, it wasn't a powerful chakra, just a lot of it. Ura sat against the wall as she prepared her umbrellas for the next exam, whatever it was. They were in good condition still. She glanced up at Gaara and felt a blush run to her cheeks, it was the look in his eyes that made her heart race start to speed up.

Over the next day and a half, more Genin showed up. Ura was surprised by how little there were compared to when the second exam started. Her heart dropped when Team 7 walked in though. There was something different about all three of her old teammates. Sakura's hair was shorter, Naruto was angrier, while Sasuke looked stronger and distraught. Something had happened… And she didn't help Naruto. It was a sacrifice… Ura thought to herself as her eyes saddened at the sight of them, and sacrifices had to be made…right? A kick to the head made Ura come back to reality and glared at Temari, who kicked her. She received a sharp glare from Temari that reminded her where she came from and what team she was on. Ura nodded once and continued to polish her umbrella as they waited to be called to the main room.


	6. Chapter 6

Ura was surprised to see Kabuto drop out. She had heard it was his sixth time to enter the Chunin Exams, so why give up when he was so close to finishing? No matter, Ura was a bit pissed that the Hokage and the Prompter to make a Preliminary Round Exam to thin out the number for the third exam. She crossed her arms as she stood at the very back of her team. Though proved to Gaara that she was a good opponent, he still detested the fact that she was on their team. Her team and Baki went up to the stands to watch the first few fights. Ura was impressed with Temari and Kankurou's skills in battle and wanted to fight them later on if she had the chance to. She even smiled to herself when she watched Naruto's fight. Though Ura had remained silent, she was more than overjoyed at the fact that Naruto had beat Kiba, even if it was a fluke. When Sakura had to fight Ino, Ura felt nothing more than pity for both of them. Those who chose a guy over their friendship definitely didn't need to be friends to begin with, but it gave Sakura and Ino a one-up match. At least Sakura had a friend like Ino, even if they fought over the same guy.

Then, Gaara and the rumored Taijutsu specialist, Lee, were called to fight each other. Ura had heard of Lee and met him on rare occasions when training. She couldn't personally say she knew the shinobi, but had seen him maybe once or twice. What she had heard, however, was that he only knew taijutsu and incapable of performing ninjutsu or gentjutsu. Rare, to say the least, but Ura could see that Lee honed his skills in the art of taijutsu to make up for what he lacked. This fight was going to be quite interesting, especially since she knew Gaara had the least taijutsu fight inside of him. Ura braced herself, this was a fight she couldn't protect Gaara from. If he lost…well… She would probably be the last person he wanted to see so Ura started to plan her own escape in case he did lose. Just in case.

As the match started, Ura was impressed by Lee's speed and strength. He could kick Gaara's sand shield with ease and make it look like he was flying in the air. A smirk formed on Ura's face as she continued to watch the match, Gaara looked around whenever Lee kicked or punched his shield. When Gaara tried to land a sand wave on Lee, it missed and had Lee leap to the tallest statue of a handsign.

"What a coward, does he think Gaara can't reach him up there?" Temari asked with a sarcastic tone, "Seriously, Ura, how did you manage to get stronger here?"

"Kept to my own personal training," Ura answered as she placed a hand on her hip, "But you have to agree that Lee definitely has speed on his side. Gaara is going to have a fair fight this time."

"Keep it to yourself," Temari crossed her arms as she nudged Ura, "You know as well as I do that Gaara can't lose."

"I know he's not going to," Ura turned and stared lazily at Temari, "He's just going to have a hard time catching him."

They both turned their backs to the match. It was when Lee took off his weights that smashed into the floor that made Ura and Temari rethink their outcomes for the fight. If…if Lee could handle that many pounds of weight and still kept up his speed, then…how fast was he really? In an instant, he was flying all over Gaara. Kicking his shield at one point, punching in the opposite direction, and even managed to try and attack him from above. Ura felt some worry grow inside her as she watched Gaara struggle to keep up to where Lee's location was at. She gripped the railing, who did she want to win? Obviously Gaara so they could go to the exam together, but Lee… He was obviously more equipped and trained longer and harder than Gaara has ever trained. Even Ura knew she didn't train as long and as dedicated as Lee had.

Ura's heart nearly stopped. Lee had made an attack on Gaara's face, leaving a scratch on his porcelain skin. Anger rose in her, how dare he land a direct hit! Ura's rage began to boil as she watched Lee's satisfaction from making that damn hit, and the others cheering him on. She began to calm when confusion ran through her mind. Her confusion was from Gaara's sand dripping from his skin acting like an armor. Didn't his sand protect him enough? Ura turned to Temari and Baki to ask, but Baki answered before she asked, "You see, Gaara has two defensive techniques. The sand that naturally protects him and the armor he uses whenever someone is able to go through the natural sand barrier. Of course, this takes massive amounts of chakra even for him."

"Which means it takes a major toll on his chakra," Temari continued as her eyes widened, seeing the inner demon inside Gaara awaken, "If he keeps his armor on too long, he'll lose too much chakra."

She turned back to the match to watch Gaara. Her fear became more of a reality, Gaara's demon, Shukaku, was awakening inside of Gaara. The one demon she had tried to tell Gaara was in his control years ago… It tore her heart to know that this demon had more control over Gaara than he had over himself. It wasn't fair, watching from the stands and nothing she could do to help either of the shinobi fighting below. Lee didn't stand a chance at that point. It would take a matter of minutes before Gaara was done playing with him after Lee used his Primary Lotus and Gaara using a substitution jutsu at the last moment. The match was getting harder to watch with Gaara just toying with Lee, blasting his sand at Lee whenever he was down. Ura couldn't help but feel so sorry for Lee. This wasn't a fair fight anymore… Lee could possibly die at any moment because of the toll he put on his body and the massive strain from Gaara's sand attacks.

"Dammit, Lee, just run…" Ura cursed beneath her breath angrily.

"Ura…" Temari growled, but Ura didn't acknowledge the warning.

If anything, Ura listened to what Lee's sensei had to say though it was hard to hear from such a distance. Lee… He had a passion for being a ninja, to be something of an asset to his village. Ura couldn't help but respect Lee on a higher level. The fact that he would never give up or quit, the fact that he trained so long to become the best at taijutsu, and the fact that he disregarded what everyone had to say made him more of a ninja than many that stood in that stadium. Ura didn't feel an even match between her and Lee, he was a better shinobi compared to her natural born jutsu. Even to that, Ura did not want to fight Lee, but learn more about him and learn to take on the type of training he does.

It seemed as if Lee gained some of his strength back as he easily began to dodge Gaara's attacks. He had managed to open his chakra gates to gain more fluidity in his movements and become stronger. It wouldn't be enough though, Ura tried to catch Lee's quick movements towards Gaara, he won't win no matter what. Then, Ura's eyes twitched in fear, Lee opened his Hidden Lotus. Fear ran through her for Lee more so than for Gaara. The pressure he was putting his body under was a massive weight that tore through his muscles. If Lee survived... Well, he may not be a shinobi much longer. Ura felt her grip on the rail tighten as she watched Gaara get beaten to a pulp, his armor cracking as he was punched, kicked, and thrown to the ground.

She angrily punched the railing as she glared down at the two shinobi beneath her. Why wasn't Gaara doing anything? He was stronger than Lee! He had to be! Maybe not as fast as Lee, but Gaara was at least able to pack a punch! Ura was about to scream something until Baki pulled her back from the railing, "Watch what you say here."

"But he's not doing anything! Lee isn't going to win!" Ura growled as she glared at Baki.

"Exactly," Baki released her to watch the match.

Ura wanted to run down to Gaara when the sand caught his fall on the arena. What if he was hurt? Then she noticed Lee...he was in rough shape. The Hidden Lotus had torn some of his muscles and he couldn't even crawl away as Gaara sent his sand over to Lee. Her eyes widened, what was Gaara doing? It was obvious he had Lee beat by not being ready to pass out!

"Gaara..no.." Ura murmured as she watched the sand cover Lee's left arm and leg, then crushing them with ease, "NO, LEE!"

All went silent, even Gaara had glanced over to Ura as did most of the other shinobi in the stadium when Ura screamed. Temari took a step away from Ura, "You got yourself into some trouble."

Ura couldn't allow Lee to be totally consumed with the sand. She watched as Lee's sensei, Gai, stopped Gaara's sand from consuming Lee as Ura leaped down in front of Gaara. Gai eyed Ura as she stood in a defensive stance in front of Gaara, it was clear to him that she had thought they were going to harm Gaara more than Lee had done. When Ura saw it clear that no one was doing so, she turned to Gaara to see him staggering up, "Gaara, are you alright? Are you hurt?"

"Leave me alone," Gaara stated as he walked passed her.

Maybe he was just a little mad at her for yelling for Lee... Or he didn't care? Ura was just satisfied that Gaara wasn't too hurt from Lee's beating. She looked over her shoulder at Lee, he was in real bad shape.

"Ura, quit stalling and lets go."

She turned to see Gaara with his arms crossed. Well, he knew her name, right? Ura took in a deep breath as she leaped back up to the stands. Temari approached Gaara with a proud smirk, "Good to have you back, Gaara."

Gaara was more ruthless than she had anticipated. Yeah, he had tried killing her what now...twice? But Ura didn't expect him to kick an opponent when he was down... It gave her some more insight, she glanced over at Gaara as he gazed down as the medic-nins took Lee away. Her love was the same, but she was worried about Shukaku inside of him.

The match between Dosu and Choji was fairly quick. Choji didn't stand a chance against Dosu even with his large, boulder body trying to crush Dosu. Then, it was Ura's turn. She had been waiting for a chance to fight to show off to Gaara again. Who could she fight? With Kabuto gone, there was an uneven number of combatents willing to take another fight. The Prompter, who noticed Ura's dilemna, looked around and announced, "To those who have won their battle are able to fight one last round with Ura of the Sand. Win or lose, you will continue to the next exam."

Ura leaped down and looked up in the stands. No one had come down yet to fight her... Her irritation grew as she looked up at Naruto who stared down at her. He would not fight her. Not in a million years would he even try to. Ura then looked up at Neji Hyuuga, a smug smile on his face. She slowly took out both her umbrellas and slammed the tops into the floor as she glared up at all to those who won, "All of you are damn cowards!"

To her satisfaction, her statement caused some people to stir angrily at her. Even more so to her satisfaction, a Genin appeared before her with their arms crossed. Neji eyed her as he looked over at the Prompter, "This will be quick."

"Whatever," the prompter coughed as he took a step back, "Neji Hyuuga verses Ura of the Sand."

Ura's eyes narrowed onto the Hyuuga boy who had damaged Hinata badly. She would have no mercy against him as she rested each open umbrella against her shoulders, "So, you think you're tough enough to fight me... You're pretty gutsy."

"Fate has her eyes on me in this battle," Neji usedh is Byakugan on her, looking at her kekkei-genkai chakra fused with her blood, "You, i'm afraid, will not be able to blind me with your little blood jutsu. I'm not afraid of a little blood on me."

"Good, then you won't be traumatized when i'm done with you," Ura smirked as her umbrellas twirled rapidly in her grip.


	7. Chapter 7

Once the match began, Neji appeared in front of her with his palm open to hit where most of chakra was focused, on her heart. She saw his aim and opened her umbrella at the last moment to block his attack. The outcome to the fight was questionable with Neji's Byakugan and the ability to see where her chakra was centralized. Ura waited with her an open umbrella in front of her and one open behind her. Neji smirked as he could see that she was trying to calculate how to get to him without him being able to hit her. Her only way to attack him was from a distance, anything close-distance and he will paralize her entire body. Well, in that case, she will just have to be one step ahead of him.

Ura threw the umbrella open behind her into the air to float in mid-air. She would save that one for later just in case she needed it. Her plan was a bit risky, but, with a smirk she thought, nothing fun came from hiding behind objects. Neji anticipated that she would try to attack him with her umbrella, but Ura tossed it to the side and revealed a handful of hari in her hands. He leaped away to dodge any of the hari she tried to throw up at him. Instead, Ura leaped up with him and darted her hari to the floor where they embedded themselves halfway through. Neji couldn't see what she was planning on doing, so he looked at her chakra concentration starting to build up around her feet.

Neji then darted towards her, throwing his palms at her to try and reach one of her vital chakra points. Ura dodged his palms as best as she could until she lost her balance when he managed to kick her feet sideways and fell onto her side. Neji landed on his feet as he waited for her to get back onto her feet. He noticed that her body had skidded across the line of hari she had threw at the floor, leaving a trail of blood over the flooring. What plan was she trying to get at? When Ura managed to get on her hands and knees, a smirk formed on her lips as she peered over at Neji. What the hell was she doing! Ura got up on her feet as she ran her fingers through her blood, then it started to thicken beneath her touch. After a second, Ura was able to hold the blood attached to her body like a rope. She tugged on it until all the blood that left a trail on the hari formed into a whip-like object with the hari embedded in the blood.

"This, Neji Hyuuga, is my Whip of a Thousand Deaths: Blood jutsu," Ura twirled the blood whip above her head, "This is getting interesting, huh?"

Neji could see the chakra inside her blood whip, if he could just hit it with his own palm he could take out the chakra with ease. There was no way he was able to get close enough without getting lashed at by her whip. His best option was to try and get as close to her as fast as he could. Ura just needed one drop of his blood, something that could easily let her win if she could just hit him once. Her anticipation rose as she watched him run at her as fast as he could. Neji was fast...but he wasn't as fast as Lee. Ura could see every step he took until he came close enough for her to try and lay one hit on him. She cracked her blood whip at him as fast as she could, but even Ura had to leap away when Neji got too close to her chakra infused blood. Just one damn drop and he was making it difficult for her to hit him! That little brat needed to hold still so she could hit him!

She twirled on her heel when she landed on the ground, cracking her whip again at him. Of course, the damn Hyuuga boy was able to dodge her attack and keep running at her. Ura was getting angrier and angrier as she tried to attack him, but it seemed she was leaving herself too vulnerable to him. The only way to defeat him was without using any jutsu at all! That was it, Ura was able to see how defeating the Hyuuga boy would be simpler than she had though. Her blood red eyes turned back to a light beige as her blood returned to a liquid base. Neji stopped running at her when he saw her give up her kekkei-genkai. Even the chakra in her body went back to the natural vital points rather than circulating throughout her body. Ura smirked as she went into a fighting stance, "I'm done playing, Neji, let's get serious please."

"Bitch..." Neji growled, she was just fighting him without trying, "Fight me correctly!"

"That would be too easy," Ura stated with a defiant smirk, "All I would need was a simple drop of blood from you, and you would be dead."

That sent him off, angering him to the point where Neji strengthened his Byakugan. _'Good,' _Ura thought as she widened her stance, _'At least I can prolonge this a bit.'_

Neji pulled out his kunai as he appeared in front of her as Ura picked up a hari real quick. Hand-to-hand combat was the choice of a fight at the moment. The most people could probably see were shadows going everywhere and the sound of clashing metal echoing throughout the stadium. Ura managed to pick up another hari to gain an advantage as she continued to fight longer with Neji. They leaped away from each other, both panting as they glared at each other. Ura looked up at the umbrella in the air and formulated a new plan in her mind. She had waited a second too long because she then saw Neji half way running to her with his palm open. Ura put her hands together in a handsign jutsu as she disappeared in a cloud of smoke when Neji partially hit her. A small amount of blood landed on his hand as Ura had disappeared, he had done some damage...

He looked around to see where she was at. Her umbrella was still twirling normally above him, the other umbrella was still tossed to the side... Where the Hell was she? Neji looked over to the Prompter, but even he had a smirk on his face. The fight was far from over, Neji could still feel her somewhere... But where? There was a low rumble as Neji glanced around with his kunai in hand, where was that wretched woman! He then looked beneath him... Ura emerged from the ground and managed to punch his chin hard enough to send him into the air. She leaped into the air and began to punch and kick him as fast as she could. Neji dodged some, but he took at least half of her hits directly. She then gripped his shirt and discarded him towards the floor. A wide smile formed on her lips as she summoned the umbrella that was twirling in the air.

She began to descend, but turned to where the tip of her umbrella was aimed at Neji's head. Faster, faster, and faster she fell towards him. The image of his head split open flashed in her head. The image caused Ura to move from the uncomfortable feeling of fear over-taking her. This pause caused Neji to catch his landing and struggle to keep his balance as he stood as best as he could. Ura landed farther from Neji as her own blood started to drip from her mouth. She eyed Neji, and her heart nearly stopped when she saw his blood drip from his mouth as well.

Temptation ran thruogh her. It would be quick. What would his death do? She caught her breath as she glared at Neji, her panting started to slow to easy, deep breaths. Killing him was not her goal. There was only one goal that Ura had to keep in rememberence and he was standing near Temari and was holding a gourd. Ura glanced up at Gaara for a moment, then back at Neji. A small smile formed on her lips as she straightened her posture, Gaara was watching her.

That was enough. Ura aimed the umbrella at Neji, who was slowly starting to run at her. Her eyes narrowed at Neji. Knowing Gaara was watching her...that alone gave her enough strength... Ura's eyes widened. That alone gave her enough strength to kill Neji. She got down on one knee and aimed the tip of the umbrella at Neji's back as she held a jutsu handsign as the umrbella began to spin, slowly becoming faster and faster. As Neji finally made it to the point where he was ready to take on a full attack, Ura disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"The match is over!"

"What!" Neji turned, but his eyes widened at the sight behind him.

Not even an inch away, Ura had appeared with the tossed umbrella from earlier as four Jonin held her and the umbrella in place. In the matter of a second, Neji was about to be mutilated to pieces. Ura held the crimson look in her eyes as she glared at Neji with such hatred and passion mixed into one. Baki roughly pulled her to her feet as Temari came along and picked up the umbrellas for her sensei and teammate. Neji couldn't believe... That the same Ura, who had smiled with his cousin, trained with Team 7, and even helped some of the new Chunin... Had the same blood lust as a ruthless killer.

"Ura of the Sand shall also be one of the winners of the Preliminary Rounds," the Prompter announced.

Later that day, Ura had bathed and sipped the sake from the cantine as she watched the sunset on her cliff. It had been a long day since the end of her battle with Neji. She hadn't fought like that in a long time, not since her mission of helping a Jonin assasinate a gang leader. Ura thought back to what drove to that point of wanting Neji's blood... It was the image of Gaara, seeing him made her stronger in ways she had never known. Gaara...

"I made a promise... Nothing can stop me," Ura murmured as she felt the warm liquid seep down her throat slowly.

Ura was in a drunken stuper as soon as the sun fully set and the full moon began to rise. She clumsily got up, feeling her body sway to and fro before she finally found a steady pace. Staggering through the woods, Ura could see Gaara everywhere. In the trees, in the bush, in the little animals that were scurring across the grass. Ura finally made it to the village, all was quiet as she gulped down some more of the stolen sake she had taken from Baki. The warmth was caressing her skin as the summer's heat started to cool to a nightly breeze.

She was in the middle of the village when she looked up to see Gaara sitting at the Kikyo Shrine. Anger rushed through her, why did she have to love him when he blamed her for things she had no control over? Ura pulled out a single hari, aiming for Gaara, but stopped. For one, Gaara wouldn't get hurt. Second, she loved him too much to have even the faintest desire to hurt him.

"You almost kill Neji, but you can't even hurt that guy? You're such a loser."

Sasuke the damn Uchiha. Ura slowly turned as she drank more sake, her drunken state become more irrational as she saw him staring at her as if she were nothing. She turned even more and began to walk over to him, "You littles...brat!"

"Is that the best you got?" Sasuke shrugged as he watched her fumble over her feet, "That's why you're hiding behind a flask."

"Fuck...you..." Ura glared at him as she drank even more sake, "You have no idea-"

"You're right," Sasuke passed her with a smug look, "I don't touch sake as earnestly as you do."

"Careful, Ura, he's just a kid."

Ura staggered a bit before she found Kankurou approaching her where Sasuke stood. A smile formed on her lips, "Well there's you are! Did you brings me more soup?"

"Ugh...sure, specialty from Baki," Kankurou handed her a large bottle of sake from Suna with Baki's name on it.

Yeah, he would hear it later and probably get thrown around by Baki, but the fight he had seen today made him want to drink too. Kankurou helped Ura back to the hotel as the Uchiha watched the scene in silence. He couldn't help but feel that the Uchiha kept watching Ura though, not really even noticing that Kankurou had even showed up. Weird...

"Hey, did you find... Oh, so you did..." Temari swooped in from her fan, "How gone is she?"

"Pretty gone now.." Kankurou held Ura carefull as the kunoichi guzzled more of the imported sake down.

"Here! Try!" Ura shouted as she forced Kankurou to drink some, "It makes the world a better place.."

"Oh for Kami's sake!" Temari tried to stop Ura, but didn't stand a chance.

Ura tripped Temari with one of her umbrellas as Kankurou was starting to spit up the warm, spiced sake. As Temari fidgeted in anger and Kankurou finding some relief, Ura was merely laughing away at the sight. Temari was about to pull out her fan, but stopped when she saw Ura crying from her laughter as she fell to her knees. Kankurou merely smiled as he helped Ura up, "Don't get mad Temari... At least she's on our side."

Temari took a moment before she nodded and helped by getting Ura's other side. As they started to walk her back to the hotel, Ura stopped them so she could look up at Gaara one last time. Her face was tinted a reddish color by the sake, then murmured, "Do...do you think... Do you think Gaara..."

They waited before Ura finished, "Do you think he'll ever go to sleep?"

A sweat dropped formed as Temari groaned, dragging Ura back to the hotel, "Now she's just crazy..."

"I've seen worse," Kankurou sighed as he followed the two girls back to the hotel.


	8. Chapter 8

"So... What do you think this stuff tastes like?"

"I don't think we should find out."

"It's pretty good."

"You're not helping!"

Kankurou sniffed the sake that Baki had forgotten about and looked around. Gaara was out for the day while the others didn't really have much to do besides train. They were going to train... After Kankurou decided whether or not if he wanted to try the sake. Ura covered her head when Temari motioned she was going to punch her head as Kankurou remained undecided. Finally, Temari snatched the canteen and tossed it to the side, "Well, i'm going to do something else besides remain here, again."

"Oh! Let's go to the hot springs!" Ura suggested as she leaped to her feet, "It's so nice there!"

"You two females can do that, i'm going to go train like a real man," Kankurou pulled the bandaged Crow on to his shoulder.

"So impressive," Temari rolled her eyes as she passed him, "You have fun with playing pretend."

"We'll make sure to set out a snack for the little man," Ura playfully pinched Kankurou's cheek.

After the two Suna kunoichi left towards the village hot spring, Temari gently nudged Ura, "So, spill it, why do you like Gaara so much?"

"Hm? Because I do," Ura shrugged, but she could see that wasn't the answer Temari wanted, "Well... It just happens you know. When I look at Gaara, I can see a lot of potential and I want to be the one he finds happiness from one day."

"Ok, say he changes and actually normal, what will you do then?"

"Then i'll ask him out on a date," Ura smiled as she put her hands behind her head, "I don't know, I focus on the here and now rather than later on."

The two walked in silence for most of the walk towards the spring. Ura looked around the village and could remember what it was like living there when she first arrived. She had a hard time trying to fit in because of her honor in her true village. People had seen her as someone they couldn't fully trust. But, over the years, Ura could see that she had their trust and able to walk freely throughout the village without hearing a snide comment. What would it be like when she went home to Suna? Would her mother be proud? What did her little sister look like? Would people she used to know remember her? There were a lot of exciting questions that she wanted answers to.

Finally, they reached the spring and recieved two towels to cover themselves with after paying the fee. Temari let down her hair as Ura undressed herself. Her shirt was always tight, even the bandages that held her breasts were tight. When she unraveled the bandages and feeling her breasts naturally fall into place was the most relaxing feeling Ura had felt in ages. With a relieved sigh, Ura stood motionless for a moment to enjoy the feeling.

"Uhm... Not to sound weird, but I don't really want to see your nipples," Temari chimed as she looked away with an annoyed face.

"Jealous?" Ura smirked playfully as she wrapped the towel around her to hide her body from the world.

Temari grimaced as she joined Ura to the hot spring. Both were suprised to see it empty as it was especially during the summer season. Ura debunked the rare occasion because everyone was getting ready for the final exam. They sunk into the relaxing waters slowly, allowing their bodies to rest without having to worry about jumping up to fight someone. Ura rested herself against the edge as Temari tilted her head back, enjoying the heat she had missed from the dessert. When she saw Temari fully relaxed, Ura then asked, "So, any boyfriends?"

"Hm?" Temari gave a quetionable look over to Ura then shook her head, "Nope, I've spent most of my time training with Kankurou or watching Gaara. They're both full time jobs anyways."

"When we head back, i'll watch Gaara so you can focus more on getting a boyfriend," Ura commented as she looked up at the blue sky, "Then I can spend more time with Gaara."

"You should give up," Temari stated as she became more alert.

Ura noted on Temari's serious statement. She wasn't joking or making it light-hearted. They sat in silence for a few more moments before Ura closed her eyes half way, "It's not that easy, Temari... What I saw in Gaara before was-"

"What you saw before is dead," Temari's voice became sharper as she glared over at Ura, but then softened her voice, "Look, i'm trying to look out for you. Gaara may never understand what you feel or ever feel love for someone. I don't want to see you get your heart broken."

"Isn't that a risk I can make on my own?" Ura looked back over at Temari, "Besides, a person can love without getting anyting in returned. The fact is, Temari, that I love Gaara no matter what happens. I have given him my word that I will protect him until the very end of me and I will never stop loving him. To the world, he can be the monster and the bad guy, but to me... He's Gaara, and I will never stop seeing him that way."

Temari remained silent. How could Ura make a powerful statement when she had no idea how bad Gaara could get if under the right amount of pressure? She looked up at the same blue sky and remembered Gaara's life. As his sister, she had seen every pain he had to go through to get where he was now. In truth, she didn't know if he would ever change to someone more stable. Gaara saw his world and his views, anyone else was just dust in the wind to him. That was just...that was just him, he didn't know anything else beyond that point. Then there was Ura, claiming she loved him, and yet she had seen a mere fragment of what Gaara could do. What Gaara did to Lee was harsh, but it was nothing compared to what he had done before.

"So, Shikamaru, do you think you'll win?"

Taken from her personal thoughts, Temari answered, "Well, yeah, it's not like I have the choice. Plus with the plan and all..."

Ura's light brown eyes lit up for a moment, "Plan?"

"Baki hadn't told you yet?" Temari was a bit confused as she sat up a bit, glancing around, "I mean with Sound and all."

"I haven't heard a thing," Ura explained, "What is it?"

"I can't tell you, but i'll ask if you're going to be apart of it or not," Temari answered as she leaned back, but then held a more friendly smile, "Don't worry though, you will be fine no matter what happens."

"And Gaara?" Ura inquiered.

"He will be in no safer hands save our own," Temari answered as she smiled over at Ura.

Ura was curious about the plan Temari had mentioned. She didn't bring up the subject in anyway during their time in the spring. They finished their time limit in the spring and began to walk around the village to find somewhere to eat. Ura picked out a small little restaurant that served her sake as Temari ordered her usual tea. When Temari noticed Ura sipping the sake again, her calm attitude became rather annoyed, "Again? Don't you think you've been hitting that stuff a bit hard?"

"What stuff?" Ura playfully smiled, then answered as she put down the small cup, "I just have the taste for it."

"'Don't get drunk," Temari demanded as she sipped her tea, then said, "Because i'll just leave you here to pay."

"Yeah, yeah... Damn grandma," Ura groaned as she poured her shot glass with more sake.

As they ate their light meals, Temari then asked about Ura's kekkei-genkai. It was a common question, but one that Ura tried to avoid because it was a complicated system. All ninja had a form of a chakra inside of them. They can manipulate their chakra to do all sorts of jutsu that required a certain amount of strength, speed, concentration, and stamina. Ura's kekkei-genkai was more towards stamina and concentration due to the fact that she used her hari more than her brute strength. With her stamina, she can sustain enough blood loss to the point where she could fight for hours using her blood as a means to win. With her concentration, she is able to make her chakra flow in her blood stream as well. Thus, making her an easy opponent for Neji, but probably not so easy for Sasuke.

For Gaara, though, that was a mystery to Ura. In order to prove herself worthy to Gaara as a kunoichi and someone who vowed to protect his life with her own, she would need to fight and win against Gaara. Ura sipped her sake as she gazed out the window deep into her own thoughts. Fighting Gaara gave her some comfort that she had a chance at winning, however they were still slim. She hadn't made Gaara as excited as he was for his fight with Sasuke. Even when he fought Lee, Gaara was still anticipating the event that landed Lee with a broken arm and leg.

"Hey, should we visit Lee?" Ura asked as she stopped pouring herself the sake.

Temari shook her head as she finished her tea, "No. What Gaara did was in the limitation of the rules, no matter how unfortunate or unfair they seem. Gaara won, Lee lost, end of story."

"Right," Ura paid for their meals and stood up, "I'm going to visit him anyways."

"You can't do that!" Temari snapped in a hushed whisper as she stood up quickly, "What will Gaara think? And Baki! He will kick you off this team or possibly stop you from becoming a Chunin!"

"I'm not scared of him and I can hold my own against Gaara," Ura commented as they left the restaurant to 'discuss' the situation in private.

"Well, if you're going, then I don't want to be apart of it," Temari put her hands up in a way of giving up, "If Gaara or Baki catch you, don't say I didn't warn you."

"Right.." Ura rolled her eyes and headed towards the hospital.

She passed the bustling streets of villagers going throughout their day. Ura had wanted to meet Lee in person and talk to him on behalf of Gaara. The hospital wasn't too far away and none of the nurses were at the main desk. So, Ura looked Lee's name up in the book at the desk and headed towards his room. She reached his room in a few minutes to find the door was unlocked. Ura walked in to see Lee had just woken up from a nap and greeted him with a smile, "Hey, how are you?"

"I..I am well, who are you?" Lee asked, then noticed her headband, "Who sent you? If you are here to finish me off, then I will call my sensei and-"

"Chill, chill," Ura walked in and left the door open, "I came in here to see how you were doing. I liked the way you fought Gaara and... Well, i'm sorry for what he did to you. If I could've stopped him, I would've."

Lee eyed her, but he didn't see any mischief in her eyes. He nodded as he sat up in his bed with the sling around his arm, "My arm hurts from time-to-time, but it will get better soon."

Ura glanced at his left arm as guilt rushed through her soul. Gaara shouldn't have gone as far as to try and destroy Lee's future as a shinobi. She looked out the window for a brief moment and then back at Lee, "My name is Ura by the way."

"I am Lee," he answered with a somewhat smile, then his face turned to one of a question, "Tell me, Ura, is Gaara...human?"

A soft laugh exited Ura's lips as she smiled at Lee, "Yeah, Gaara's human alright. He just as some emotional issues, but I love the guy."

"You cannot be serious," Lee held a look of pure terror on his face, "Him? You have feelings for him!"

Ura nodded as she crossed her legs, "Yup, that's one of the reasons why I also came here today. Lee, I know it may be hard for you now, but I want you to think about it for me instead."

Lee listened intently as Ura went over to his bed and sat next to him, "Lee, I want you to forgive Gaara for me. He is not a bad guy, he's just a guy that had a lot of bad things happen to him. Please...promise me you'll think about it."

"For you, I will," Lee nodded reluctantly, then Ura stood up, "Did you win your match? Who did you fight?"

"Neji Hyuuga," Ura answered as she headed towards the door.

"Neji! Did you win!" Lee nearly leaped to his broken foot off the bed.

"I one, but barely," Ura answered as she turned to answer the last question, "I better go, Lee, it was nice meeting you. Maybe after the Chunin Exams we can be friends."

"Since you won, I will come to the final exam and watch you fight," Lee stated, then Ura left the room.

It gave her some peace knowing she at least tried to have him forgive Gaara. Ura put her hands behind her head as she smiled to the world, walking to wherever her feet were leading her. The warmth of the day captured her as she hummed a small tune that was stuck in her head. A light-hearted tune, it made her think about returning back to the Sunagakure with Gaara. She was so captured by her own thoughts that she didn't even feel the sand start to wrap around her waist. When she finally noticed the constricting feeling rub against her skin, Ura froze as she held her breath. Where was Gaara? Sweat formed on her brow as her lungs ached from lack of air. In an instant, Ura was yanked from the dirt road in Konoha to a small shack that held a Buddhist statue. She was slammed into the wall as Gaara's piercing, icy eyes glared at her as the veins in his eyes began to show, "You...saw him..."

"I-I did not! I went to get-"

"You're lying..." Gaara growled as he constricted his sand to cover her mouth, "You...saw him..."

She was going to die. Ura knew it that moment she was going to die by Gaara's sand. It couldn't end that way, she wouldn't let him kill her no matter what! Ura struggled more and more until the sand finally let her free to use her mouth, "I didn't see anyone at the hospital! Please believe me!"

Gaara glared even harder at her for what she was saying. She was a nuisance, always showing up when he didn't want her to. The only reason he had let her live so far was to see her use her fullest potential with her kekkei-genkai. However... She was strong without it. Ura was a prey he wanted to save for later after he was finished with the Uchiha. Gaara thrusted Ura away from the shack-like temple, "If I hear that you did go and see him, i'll rip you open and pull out your organs."

Ura wanted to say something flirtatious, but decided against it. Even if it was nothing, she'll take the fact that he hadn't killed her as a flirt and keep going. Ura got on her feet and dusted herself off as Gaara left the shack, "At this point, Gaara, you should realize that i'm not going to die as easily as you think."

That day must've been off because Ura was surprised to see Gaara turn and respond to her statement, "You always say you're stronger than me. How about you prove it then..."

Ura's spine froze. Fight Gaara, now? He had a point though, she was telling him too frequently that he couldn't beat her. Ura scratched the back of her head as she watched him cross his arms and give her a cold stare, "I've sworn to protect you so... Maybe not-"

"That as well, you're little promise to protect me... I don't need you," Gaara stated as his gaze narrowed on to her, "I've never needed you. The only use you could ever be to me is to help me feel alive by basking in your blood in my sand."

No matter how badly her words tore at her heart, she didn't want Gaara to see her hurt. She bit her lip until she thought it would tear and bleed in her mouth. Ura fended off his words with her hands on her hips, "The day you fight me will be the day you feel the most alive. You haven't even seen my best."

She was peaking his interest a little too much. Ura could see Gaara's eyes become more colder than she had remembered as sand began to pour out of his gourd. Did he really want to fight her at that moment? Were they allowed? Ura could tell Gaara was not going to back out at any moment since she egged him on enough. Her heart rate began to quicken as she eyed his sand, slowly pulling out her umbrellas. She didn't want to hurt him or use her kekkei-genkai on him. There was little chance she could get a drop of his blood when even Lee could barely make a scratch on Gaara. Ura had no idea how she was going to fight him when she didn't even know if she was going to live or not. Watching him fight and actually fighting with him were two different objects.

_'I have his attention now... If I can dodge his attacks and probably do some really cool Blood Jutsu, then I can probably escape after that,' _Ura thought to herself as she held out her arms from side-to-side as she held her umbrellas, _'The main problem is that i'm no where near as fast as Lee. Gaara will be able to detect my movements much easier.'_

Sand is thicker than blood. Blood seeps into sand. A mixture of thick liquid and sand can cause a deadly batch of quick sand beneath blind feet. Ura had no other choice if she wanted to prove to him that she was a worthy opponent. Her main goal was not to win, but mainly to evade. She would need to evade his attacks, use some Blood Jutsu on him, and then evade away from him to safety. That will he will not be able to catch her and they won't have time to fight later on.

Ura prepared her umbrellas and began to twirl them in her hands as the sand continued to pour on to the ground from Gaara's gourd. When she was about to toss the umbrellas in the air, Baki leaped in between them, "You two can't fight now! There are too many things to be done before actions are taken placed!"

"She has been challenging me, I wanted to see what she can do," Gaara peered right through Baki to Ura with his still, emotionless, frozen glance.

Baki glanced over at Ura with a glare, "I should've known... I apologize, Gaara, but now is not the best time to ask for blood from her."

It took a long few minutes before Gaara reluctantly obeyed his sensei against his wishes. Ura was pleased in knowing she didn't have to fight Gaara. Maybe when they returned to Suna she would enjoy a fight with him, but not when he was asking to 'bask in her blood'. Baki disappeared as Gaara summoned his sand back into his gourd, still staring at Ura. She found the courage to walk over to him with a friendly smile, "I look forward to when we fight, Gaara."

"After the Uchiha, i'm coming for you," was all Gaara said before he disappeared in his sand.

Ura's eyes widened at the reality she was in. Gaara wanted her blood, but for the reason she wanted him to. Her friendly smile had turned to a face of realization that then turned into a defiant smile to the world. She had started to prove to him that her existence will mean more to him than he realized.

_'One day, Gaara, you'll see me as the most important person in your life.'_


	9. Chapter 9

There was a night when Gaara was on the Kikyo Shrine looking at the city as midnight rolled around. Ura had been assigned to watch him that evening by the others and stayed at a distance. She was capable of watching Gaara at the steps to the shrine. Ura lain on her back to gaze at Gaara, how mystical he looked in the night with his crimson hair and short stature body. Almost like he didn't belong in reality. She was content with her gaze on him until she felt an unfamiliar chakra.

The chakra was approaching Gaara just a tad bit too closely for Ura's comfort so she began to stalk the new presence. She made it to the rooftop unseen be either the unfamiliar person nor Gaara. Her eyes were the color of blood as she prepared for a quick show down if this person meant Gaara harm. Ura stalked just a bit closer and glanced from behind the large fish statue, it was Dosu! What was he doing near Gaara? She listened to Dosu's reason for being there.

With hope to kill Gaara in his sleep... Ura's blood boiled at the words as her eyes turned into an even brighter of crimson. She looked all over Dosu's body for a scar of sort to kill him, but there was none on his body except the scars that were healed. Ura was about to pull out a hari in hopes of scratching him, but she had witnessed sent a wave of terror through her. She could see the shadow of the beast as he emerged from Gaara, crushing Dosu with merely his tail. The same terror paralized her from going to Gaara when her returned back to his normal self. Ura stabbed her palm with her hari to gain control of her motor skills and ran over to him, "Gaara, do you need anything?"

"Get...the hell...away from me," Gaara glared up at her as she neared him.

She would have to say a comeback later on, there was no way she wanted to fight Shukaku. That would just be instant death for her...

:::::::::::

The next few days

::::::::::::

After Dosu's death, Ura told Temari, Kankurou, and Baki that she would like to remain as Gaara's watch person. Though they were curious to why she wanted the post that badly, they ultimately agreed. Ura lounged on the couch as she watched the minutes go by on the clock. Gaara was in his own little room, she could hear him whisper about 'Mother' and blood. As long as it wasn't her blood, she was ok. Ura looked up when she saw Kankurou come out of the kitchen, "Has Baki told you the plan yet?"

"Naw," Ura continued to watch the clock, "If he doesn't, i'll just follow you guys."

"That's your best option," Kankurou sipped on his glass of water, then glanced down the hallway, "Gaara in his room?"

"Yep," Ura nodded, then stretched her limbs, "When can we go?"

"Tomorrow," Kankurou answered, but Ura could tell he was anticipating whatever the plan was.

She wasn't supposed to ask, but why was it so damn important that it had both Temari and Kankurou on edge? Gaara was even told and he didn't seem to care. Well...he really didn't care about much to begin with...so he doesn't count. Kankurou sat on the other end of the couch from Ura as he looked up at the ceiling, "I just wanna go home and be a Chunin. Being around all these brats are driving me crazy."

"Yeah..." Ura looked out the window, she wanted to see some people before she left though.

Maybe buy Naruto some ramen before she left, got to apologize to Sakura for whatever she did to make her dislike her, and hang out with Hinata, Kiba, and Shino one last time. There were a few more things she'd like to do before leaving, but it was looking pretty bleak if she volunteered to be Gaara's watcher. It was choice though she was willing to make, besides... She'll see them all again, right? Maybe even sooner than she'll think.

Kankurou noticed Ura looking out the window in such a longing manner. He would've let her go do what she wanted to do, but Baki had scolded him about giving her what she wanted. In Baki's words, he had said that Ura was a lot like Gaara. That she found ways to get her own way above any one else's. It didn't sound like Ura to Kankurou, but his teammate was in love with Gaara. If Gaara was selfish, then did that mean that Ura was too? Doubtful, but whatever. The final exam was tomorrow anyways, so they should stick together as a team rather than let Ura wander through her substitute home. He found the remote and turned on the tv, flipping through the channels. Anything to get his mind off tomorrow and whatever training Baki wanted him to do. It wasn't as if he was going to fight tomorrow...

"Could you watch Gaara for me today, there's something I forgot to do," Ura got off the couch and headed for the door.

"Sure," Kankurou answered, but Ura was already gone.

There were only two people she really wanted to see, but if she saw the others then she would be fine too. Ura walked through the village as if it were her last time, saying 'hi' to people that waved to her. As she walked passed a large lake, she stopped as Kakashi walked out from another street and glanced at her, "So, looking for Naruto?"

He had been her mentor and sensei for the first few years before she branched away from his training. Ura nodded as she stared at her old sensei, in a way she would miss him as well. Though she trained and taught herself her kekkei-genkai, Kakashi had pushed her to use it more in battle than as a secret technique. Reality summoned Ura back as she walked up to the Jonin, "Where is Naruto?"

"At your favorite cliff," Kakashi answered as he touched her shoulder gently, "I am sure by now you've heard what i've done."

"Yeah," Ura looked up at him with a soft smile, "Thanks, i'm looking forward to going home."

Kakashi watched as Ura went towards the forest. She was no where as strong as he had thought she would've been at that point...

Ura made her way through the forest in hopes of finding Naruto. When she got to the cliff, she did find him. He was sleeping peacefully in the soft grass. Ura approached him and sat on her knees beside him, running her fingers through his hair like she would a child's. She admired Naruto and hoped she taught him well for her time there. He may be mad at her now, but he could forgive her someday for wanting to be in Suna more than Konoha. For the years she was by his side, Naruto had reminded Ura so much of Gaara when he was a child. He was playful and curious like Gaara, and his temper was just like Gaara's when his friends were being harmed. Ura smiled softly down at Naruto's sleeping face, she would miss him and their friendship.

She watched as Naruto slowly starting to wake, but leaped up when he saw her sitting next to him. An angry blush caressed his face as he messed up his hair, "Who said you could touch me!"

"Don't be mad," Ura laughed as she looked up at him, "This day might be my last day here, and I came to spend some time with you, Naruto."

Naruto calmed a little, but sat at a distance from her, "So... Kakashi and old man Hokage are letting you go back to the desert.."

"Yep," Ura nodded as they bothed looked into the direction of the Sunagakure, "I bet it's different."

They sat in silence for a few more minutes before Naruto stood up again, "Hey, Ura... I haven't seen Sasuke or Sakura in awhile. Could...could you..you know..."

"I'd love to help you train," Ura stood up as well, "You're going to fight Neji, so i'm going to teach you how to evade his attacks."

Four hours on end, Ura practiced with Naruto on the art of evasion. She tried her best to remember Neji's move and had Naruto simulate some of his attacks on her as if she were Neji. Ura even tried to teach Naruto on where Neji will be aiming for on Naruto's body. Of course, since Naruto's attention span was not that long, she had to repeat what she had said to him a number of times before he finally understood and remembered. Ura felt some nostalgia run through her as she remembered how she would teach and train with Naruto a few times a week to help him become stronger. Even battling with him gave her some hopes that she would see him and the village again one day.

When they finished, Naruto and Ura were both cut and bruised from practicing. Ura held a smile as she saw that Naruto was definitely getting stronger day by day. Each day he showed more promise of becoming the next Hokage. She hoped someday he would so she could enter through the village with ease and not have to worry about being martialled as trespassing. Ura helped Naruto up and fixed his headband, "I'm going to miss this, Naruto. When I leave, you better be the strongest Shinobi in all of the Land of Fire. After I fight Gaara, i'm coming for you."

A smile formed on Naruto's face as she said those words. Ura treated Naruto to ramen, and on the way to the ramen shop, Ura spotted Hinata, Kiba, and Shino across the way. Though Naruto wasn't all for them joining, Ura had them come along as well to eat as well. It was like a going-away party for Ura as the five ate ramen and talked about the exams. Ura didn't tell them what she had done in the Forest of Death or her feelings for Gaara, but she listened to their stories. Hinata was glad to hear that Ura had fought Neji and had nearly beaten him. Ura knew Hinata didn't hate Neji, she was just determined to be just as strong as him so she didn't need to be discarded by her father. The others asked what Ura was planning on doing when she returned to her village.

Ura really didn't know what to do when she went back home to her village. Well, win Gaara over, but that could take years especially if he were to ever change who he was currently. She wanted to be the Kazekage as well and be the strongest Kunoichi of Suna. There was a lot of work to be done if she even wanted to be a Kage. Ura merely smiled and answered to her questions, "I'm going to be the best kunoichi Suna has ever seen."

She didn't want to end the day, but the sun was starting to lower. Hinata and her team were going to go help Shino train some more as Naruto and Ura stood outside the ramen shop. Naruto looked over at Ura, "So... I guess you gotta go back to your team.."

"Yeah..." Ura scratched her shoulder as she looked away from him, "Naruto... Whatever happens between our countries, I want you to know I won't be the enemy."

She turned her gaze to Naruto to see that he was staring her as if they first met. His eyes were wide as he stared at her, Ura turned her gaze to a warm, content, friend face. Ura lowered herself just a little bit to see eye-to-eye with Naruto. He took a step back from how close she was and glanced away, "I guess...this is...goodbye then.."

"For now," Ura reached into her hari pack and pulled two hari, lightly stabbing her palm with them. The blood soaked into the hari as if it were natural metal and handed them to Naruto, "Keep these to remember me by. Use them when nothing else works."

Naruto examined the hari, then put them with his kunai holster. He then looked back at Ura as she started to turn to walk away, "Good luck, Ura."

Ura looked over her shoulder and smiled at Naruto, "You'll beat Neji, I know it."

They turned and went their separate ways. Ura crossed her arms as the cool air whipped around her as she headed back to the hotel. She guessed that maybe Baki wouldn't be happy that she left, but it didn't matter. Instead of taking the short cut, Ura decided to take a longer route to look at the scenery. She went through the park where there was a gray cobblestone walk path and benches by the trees for one to sit and relax. There were many times when she would relax after helping Team 7 train or help Kakashi teach them new techniques. Memories flashed through her mind as the moon began to rise in the night sky.

She paused, someone was watching her from afar. Ura turned behind her to find no one was there. That didn't mean someone wasn't following her. Placing a hand on her hip, Ura called out lightly, "Come on out, Sasuke, I know you're there."

The Uchiha leaped from a tree to about five feet from her. Ura vaguely remembered their last conversation when she was drunk off of sake. She wasn't mad at him or anything, but if she wasn't going to see him again for a long time, then she wanted to get the feelings out between them. Ura knew Sasuke was much stronger than Naruto or Sakura, and possibly just as strong as Gaara, but Sasuke was looking for something more. His hatred for his brother was strong as well, which fed into Sasuke wanting to solely fight his brother. Becoming a Chunin, Jonin, or whatever didn't matter to him. Ura didn't want to stop Sasuke from fighting Itachi, but she didn't want him to get in Naruto's way as well. Naruto looked up to Sasuke, and if Sasuke left to fight Itachi or to become stronger... Ura wouldn't know what Naruto would do.

"You're not going to win against Gaara, Sasuke," Ura started as she narrowed her eyes on the Uchiha, "I've seen you train and Gaara is still stronger than you can imagine."

"Then you haven't seen what i'm capable of doing now," Sasuke smirked as showed her his bandaged hand, "I've learned a thing or two over the last few days of training with Kakashi."

"I also heard that mark on your shoulder gives you a good boost when you're angry enough," Ura neared him, then disappeared to reappear behind him, pulling down his collar to examine the scar with one hari.

Sasuke leaped away from her, "Don't touch me..."

"I'm warning you, Sasuke. Gaara is anticipating the fight between you two and you don't stand a chance," Ura twirled the hari in her fingers, "If you can't even beat me, how do you think you'll win against Gaara?"

"So you're admitting he's stronger than you," Sasuke stated as he tried to anger her.

"He is," Ura nodded as she ran her fingers through her hair with her hari, "Even I hesitate to fight Gaara."

"How about we see how strong I am with a fight?" Sasuke suggested as he got in his new fighting stance.

Ura thought about it and decided against it. Fighting Sasuke gave her a good chance that Gaara would be pissed. Then...if Gaara saw that she could still win against Sasuke even with his new jutsu, then he would see her in a new light. Ura thought a little more about the scenario that might go down if she fought Sasuke. It would help her use her new Blood Jutsu too and see if they would be effective in battle. Ura closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them to expell her crimson iris with a smirk, "Ok, i'm ready."

She saw Sasuke bring out his Sharingan and leaped back a ways. What did he plan on doing that made him think he would need to gain speed. Ura crossed her arms as she pulled out her umbrellas, preparing for whatever Sasuke wanted to try on her. Her heart stopped beating for a moment as she saw small sand bits floating and then forming in between Sasuke and Ura. The Uchiha didn't see what Ura was witnessing most likely because he was holding his wrist downward. Ura knew Gaara was about to summon himself between them, and whatever Sasuke was doing would hit Gaara! As soon as she stepped to the side, Gaara's body started to form from the sand.

"Gaara, get out of here!" Ura stated quickly as she heard the sound of bird's chirping behind Gaara as he faced her.

"Don't tell me what to do," Gaara glared at her, ignoring the sound behind him, "I'm fighting the Uchiha, don't get in the way."

"That's all fine and great, but now's not-"

Too late, Sasuke was running at them from the distance and getting faster and faster each millisecond that passed. Ura didn't have enough time to argue with Gaara and couldn't warn him. His sand wouldn't stand a chance at Sasuke's attack. Strange as it was, Ura was visibly able to see Sasuke's blue chakra that sounded like birds. No matter how weird it was, she could easily see that it was a powerful attack. Ura ran behind Gaara and threw one umbrella to the side, using the one in her hand as a barrior to protect Gaara and herself.

It wasn't enough. The moment after she readied herself, Sasuke's chakra attack broke through her umbrella and hit her directly. She had never seen Sasuke as strong as he was when he hit her, sending her flying back as if he had hit her with a sledge hammer. Ura growled as she rolled on the ground, then found her balance and landed on her feet as she continued to slide back. The attack had hit her arms and missed her body, but she was pretty banged up from hitting the ground so hard. Ura managed to run back over before Sasuke and Gaara into it. Sasuke couldn't believe himself that he had hit Ura as hard as he did. Gaara noticed Sasuke's surprise, but didn't say anything. If anything, he wanted to save the murder of Sasuke tomorrow during the match so everyone could see.

Ura approached them and glared at Sasuke, "You..." she panted somewhat, "You almost hit Gaara. I won't..." she panted some more, "I won't let you harm him...outside a battle arena..."

Sasuke then understood why Ura risked getting hit instead of letting Gaara take the attack for her, even if it was unintentional. He glared even harder at Ura, then smirked, "Fine. We'll save this one for later."

"Right..." Ura grimaced as she watched Sasuke disappeared, then turned to Gaara, "Did he get you? I hope you didn't get hit with that."

"You're a pest," Gaara glared at her as he crossed his arms, "Stop doing things like that, it's annoying."

"I mean to keep my promise, whether you like it or not, Gaara" Ura stated softly, she wasn't mad at Gaara no matter how hard he tried to hurt her, then smiled, "I'm glad you're ok at least."

Ura looked down at her arms as she felt her warm, thick blood slide down her arms where Sasuke's attack hit her. They were hurting pretty badly, she would need to wrap them up. Sasuke's attack wasn't that strong then if it hadn't broken her bones, "I think the Uchiha has much training to do if he wants to be stronger than me. That was nothing. You're definitely going to win tomorrow, Gaara."

Gaara was already disappearing in his sand when she finished. Oh well, he would listen to her eventually, right? Ura remained outside for awhile more to look at the moon with a smile, Gaara was safe for another night.


	10. Chapter 10

Ura felt much better entering the arena with her team. Hearing the crowds, looking around at all the people, and all the excitement in the air made her more anxious to fight someone. She was happy that Naruto showed up late, but recieved a glare from Neji. Well, he should be mad, she embaressed him in front of a lot of people at the Preliminary Rounds. At least she wasn't fight him again, then she would've killed him instead of being stopped at the last moment like last time. Ura then turned back to the Prompter, she listened to the crowds cheering as if they were honorary members of some sort. It felt nice to be seen by so many people like a hero, that she was good enough for their attention. Ura even waved her hand to the crowd, which caused her teammates to glare at her for being so impulsive.

"You have to look strong, not like some important person," Kankurou nudged her side gently, "Put your hand down."

"Fine, fine," Ura scoffed as she obeyed her teammate.

Then the Kazekage appeared next to the Hokage high in the stands. Gaara looked furious at the Kazekage. Ura glanced from Gaara to the Kazekage, she could feel her own animosity grow as she gazed up at her Suna leader. He shouldn't have sent her away so easily, because if she got to fight someone that day...he would want her back in his village so he didn't have an enemy as strong as herself.

The Genin were sent to a small little area below the stands where the crowds sat. Ura was excited that Naruto and Neji were the first to fight. She stood near the railing as she heard what Neji had to say about how Naruto couldn't win due to his fate. Ura just rolled her eyes and waited for Naruto to just beat the hell out of the damn Hyuuga guy. Kankurou noticed Ura's irritation and smiled at her, "You really want that blonde guy to win, don't you?"

"I trained his ass off yesterday, he better win," Ura stated as she crossed her arms.

"That Neji guy is kinda strong though. I don't think he'll stand a chance," Kankurou commented as he watched the match start, "You see? Your friend isn't putting up much of a fight."

"Yes he is!" Ura punched his shoulder angrily as she yelled down at Naruto, "GET YOUR ASS IN GEAR AND HIT HIM ALREADY!"

"I'M TRYING, SHUT UP!"

Kankurou burst out laughing as Ura was about to leap off the railing to punch Naruto, but he caught her just in time, "Alright, alright, I think he get's your point."

"Still.." Ura pouted as she glared down at the battle, "Naruto is strong, he just needs pushed in the right direction."

"I think he has enough drive in him to help himself," Temari joined the conversation.

"Even so, someone had to make him become what he is now. If he didn't have me or his other friends, he would just be what everyone elsed wanted him to be," Ura stated, then looked over at Gaara, then she felt guilty for bringing the subject up.

She looked over at Temari to see a smirk on her face, getting Ura annoyed as she realized Temari had set up the conversation that way. Oh well, she'll get her back sooner or later. Kankurou noticed finally and just gave Temari a glare, "C'mon Ura, let's go for a little walk. I think they're going to be duking it out for a bit down there."

"Fine..." Ura groaned as she followed Kankurou.

Once they were out of hearing distance, Kankurou stopped walking on the steps, "Sorry about that, Temari can be a handful like Gaara sometimes."

"I'm quite sure of that," Ura grimaced as she held her arms, "I hope Gaara didn't listen to us."

"I doubt it, he's so warped about fighting Sasuke that he hasn't really been paying attention to many people," Kankurou sighed, but he could see how sad and worried Ura was.

It was the least he could do... He took off his head gear for a moment, exposing his dark brown hair, and softly took Ura's upper arm. She turned to see what he was doing and felt his soft lips on her own. Her eyes were wide as she realized what he was doing, though he merely just held his lips against her own. Why was he kissing her? It wasn't as if she was enjoying the intimate moment, but not with Kankurou. She didn't feel the connection like she felt with Gaara. In the mean time, she closed her eyes and pictured Gaara kissing her.

He slowly parted their kiss and took a step back, a blush tinting his face as he looked away. Ura guessed he was waiting for her reaction as he started to look a little embaressed. She couldn't have him acting weird around her, not when she was trying to gain acceptance back as a Suna kunoichi. With a smile on her face, Ura had to pretend in order to keep her friend. Ura patted his chest gently with her free hand, "Didn't think you had it in you at all, Kankurou."

"Yeah...well," Kankurou smiled away his blush as he looked over at her, "I didn't think I had it in me either. You looked really upset about what happened a little bit ago and...well, stuff happens when men see women sad."

They stood in silence for a moment before Ura suggested they walk back. When they arrived back, Naruto had won the battle against Neji. Ura was thrilled to see that her friend had won against Neji and was beaming from her happiness. Since Sasuke was still late with his battle with Gaara, it was then Temari's and Shikamaru's battle. Ura knew Temari would win, but Shikamaru must've been doing something right if he made it that far with his Shadow Jutsu. Their battle took awhile because Shikamaru was waiting in the trees so there would be more shadows for him to manipulate. After some more time passed, he eventually gave up and said it would be too easy to win. Though Temari was named the winner, she was still mad that Shikamaru didn't let her fight. Temari returned to the others with anger written all over her face.

Ura noticed Temari and Kankurou start to seem a bit worried. What was going on that they weren't allowed to say? Gaara seemed pretty chill... Well, as long as Gaara wasn't worried, then neither would Ura. What surprised her the most was hearing Kankurou giving up his fight with Shino. Kankurou never passed up the chance to use his puppets to his advantage.. Ura was suspicious, that only left Gaara and Sasuke to fight. Gaara went down to the arena with ease and waited. Ura was worried if Sasuke didn't show up, that meant that she would have to fight Gaara. She wasn't worried about who won, but more along the lines that she didn't want to choose between having Gaara move ahead of her in the ninja ranking system or hurting him.

To much to her surprise, Sasuke did finally show up for his own battle. Ura was relieved knowing she wouldn't have to fight Gaara, but was curious to know why Sasuke showed up at the last minute. Besides, that move he used on her yesterday... If it was powerful enough to scar her up, what could it do to Gaara? She was worried about if Gaara got hurt... What could she do? It's not like she could just run down there and protect him. If she had the option, she would though. She watched the battle while she held the railing tightly, watching Sasuke basically get through to Gaara several times despite Gaara's sand as his protection. Her hands became numb as she gripped the railing even tighter, her worry for Gaara's safety was on overdrive as she continued to watch the match in fear. Temari and Kankurou looked over at their other teammate with worry. Kankurou whispered to Temari, "We should tell her the plan..."

"Baki said no," Temari snapped in her whisper, "He said Ura will just try and stop them. If she is truly on our side, then she will follow us despite what the plan says."

"Right..." Kankurou grumbled as he turned back to the match, "I hope she's on our side though..."

"Me too..." Temari murmured as she did the same.

Then, Ura watched as Sasuke slid up the wall. Her eyes widened... He was going to do that chakra attack on Gaara. Sweat beaded down her face as her fear for Gaara's safety was in jeopardy. No matter how strong his defense was inside that ball of sand, Sasuke would be able to hit Gaara going head on like that. Ura neared the railing, debating whether or not to stop the battle despite being kicked out of the final exam. What did it matter anymore? Gaara was going to get hurt! Her teammates noticed her ready to jump and yanked her away from the railing. Temari locked Ura against her using her fan as she turned to Kankurou, "Tell me when it's over."

"Got it," Kankurou answered as he continued to watch the match.

In the next minute, Ura heard the bird's chirping, the sound of running, and then... Sasuke did it. The Uchiha had managed to break through Gaara's sand barrior and actually make a direct hit. Ura's eyes filled up with tears as her iris' turned a bright crimson from rage. Sasuke had managed to hurt Gaara.

"!"

"GAARA!" Ura screamed as she shoved Temari away with ease with newfound strength.

Kankurou turned and rammed Ura back into the wall with all the strength he had. Sweat formed on his face from trying to hold back Ura as her entire eyes turned bright red. Where was the damn signal? It took about a few more minutes before Temari took Kankurou's shoulder, "The signal is in place, we need to leave now."

"But Ura-"

"Let me do this," Temari took Ura's face and gripped her jaw tightly, "If you want to save Gaara, then help us get him out of here now!"

Ura slowly started to calm down, but she was still pissed that Sasuke had managed to hurt Gaara. Kankurou released her as they leaped down to the arena, trying to help Gaara get up. Temari took Gaara in one shoulder and leaped away. Kankurou and Ura followed as they tried to get Gaara out as fast as they could. Ura kept her eyes focused on Gaara, not wanting to take her sight off of him. He was in serious pain... But it wasn't Sasuke that had hurt him, Ura knew it was Shukaku trying to come out so he could kill Sasuke. When they stopped, Sasuke had appeared and Temari gave Gaara to Kankurou so she could fight him. Kankurou held Gaara as he ran off as Ura followed. Where were they going? Ura knew the cliff was nearby, were they heading back to Suna? They stopped again, again it was Sasuke. Ura was growing angrier and angrier that he was still following them.

"Here, take Gaara and run," Kankurou handed Gaara over to Ura.

She nodded and continued to run as fast as she could, only to be stopped by Sasuke. Ura lost her footing and fell down a branch, but landed and kept a firm hold on Gaara, "Go away, Sasuke, this doesn't concern you!"

"My village is under attack by your village," Sasuke yelled down at her, "Tell me how that isn't my problem!"

"Get...off of me!" Gaara slowly came to and thrusted Ura off of him.

She went through a tree and smashed against the second one. Ura barely had any conscious left, but she came to after a moment of remembering where she was at. The next thing she heard were a familiar scream and a voice... Where had she heard that scream and voice from? Her eyes widened, Sakura had screamed and that was...Naruto's voice. She got on her feet and leaped to a branch where she saw Gaara with half a different body. What...what was that? That couldn't be..that was Shukaku!

_'Gaara... What...what happend to you_?' Ura thought as she froze over from just looking at Gaara.

"Naruto... Don't hurt him..." Ura breathed as she watched both Gaara and Naruto begin to fight as well.

Ura had to leap back some more as Shukaku became bigger, having Gaara's small body exposed as Naruto summoned a large toad. That was then Ura couldn't idle by anymore. She had to protect Gaara's body no matter what. No weapons were to be used, she didn't want to hurt Naruto either. Running from tree-to-tree, then leaping onto the toad as she finally reached the top. Ura leaped in front of Naruto and stopped him, "Stop this now! I can't let you fight Gaara!"

"Why the hell not! He can't just think he can get away with this!" Naruto yelled back at her, about to shove her away from the scene.

"Then fight me instead!" Ura pushed Naruto back.

"Do you want me to get rid of her?" spoke Gamabunta.

"Why does it matter so much then?" Naruto glared as he made sure Shukaku wasn't about to attack.

"Because..." Ura tried to fight back her anger, then stated, "Gaara means too much to me for you to hurt him!"

Naruto hesitated, then understood what she meant. Gaara was out cold and hadn't heard a word she had said. He looked back at Ura, a bit disappointed at what he had to do. Naruto then snatched her wrist and yanked her towards him, "Look, I'm not trying to kill him, but i'm not going to let him leave freely and hurt the village."

Ura was about to fight back, but knew it was little use. Gaara was destroying the forest and possibly go to the village if they're not careful enough. Releasing herself from Naruto's grip, Ura looked over at Gaara, "Naruto, thank you."

With that, she leaped off the toad and landed among the trees to make sure Naruto kept his word. The battle continued for a few more minutes before Naruto headbutted Gaara. He then punched Gaara in the face, knocking him off of Shukaku and then falling to the ground. Ura watched as the two fell, hitting the earth with such force. She ran over to see Gaara and Naruto laying on the ground, both were fine. Watching from a short distance, Naruto started to crawl with his chin over to Gaara as Gaara yelled at him to stay away. Naruto growled at him, telling him that he would stop him, even kill him, if he were to harm his friends.

"Why? Why would you do that besides for only yourself?" Gaara asked in a mumble.

Ura heard Naruto's words with some warmth in her heart. Her eyes only on Gaara as she wished she could've stayed by his side longer. His chakra was gone, he was nothing by a normal shinobi without his sand to protect him. Ura went over to Gaara and knelt by him, "It's over, Gaara, you're safe. I'm here."

Gaara said nothing, not even a malice word as he turned from Naruto to Ura. She carefully picked him up, slinging one of his arms over her shoulder. Sasuke appeared in front of Naruto, telling him it was also over. Naruto looked up at Ura holding Gaara. No matter how far Ura had been from Gaara, she never stopped thinking about him. She always compared Naruto to Gaara, always saying how he could be as strong as her friend back in Suna was. Gaara was never truly alone... He was just blind because someone had never forgot about him.

Temari and Kankurou appeared, but Gaara told them the fight was over. They turned and Ura followed them back to Suna. Before they left the forest, Gaara then softly called out to his siblings, "Temari, Kankurou... I'm sorry."

Kankurou looked over at Temari, then answered, "Don't worry about it.."

"Ura... It wasn't your fault, i'm sorry," Gaara murmured as Ura held him so he wouldn't fall.

A smile formed on Ura's face as her heart warmed from his words, "Thank you."

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Naruto

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Naruto laid in his bed as he stared up at the ceiling. Sasuke sat next to Naruto's bed as he waited for their sensei to show up.

"She's...she's really gone.." Naruto grumbled.

"Yeah..." Sasuke answered in a short manner, "She's gone.."

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A/N

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I hope you guys enjoyed reading Part One : Growing Kunoichi! Don't worry i'm not done writing, in a day or two i'll post Part Two : Words Aren't Forgotten. Just to make things clear, it's going to dwindle away from the original plot as seen in the series. Part Two is going to dive into relationships and pairings. I appreciate all the love in the reviews and i'm happy to see that Ura has a good number of fans out there cheering for her. Please continue, it really brightens my day.


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